After the conference, we organize a trip to Shenzhen, China. The city, located on the border to Hong Kong but on the Mainland side, has grown from 30 thousand to about 12 millions inhabitants in less than 40 years. Shenzhen is one of China’s first first-tier cities along with Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou (known in some languages as Canton). 

 Shenzhen was the site of the first free economic zone of Deng Xiaoping. By now it is one of China’s wealthiest and economically most vibrant cities. It is particularly well known as the main home of hi-tech in China, as the main hub of China’s hi-tech, and as the hub of hacker culture. The average age of its denizens is under 30, so it is also known for its vibrant, youthful lifestyle. 

 We will visit two technology companies, including Tencent, one of the largest IT companies in the world. 

Itinerary

08:30 – Meeting at HK PolyU Fountain Square, at the main entrance of the PolyU campus at the corner of Chatham Rd and Cheong Wan Rd

09:00 - 10:00 HK PolyU - SZ

10:15 - 12:30 Company Visit 1

12:45 - 15:00 Lunch and free time at OCT Loft Creative Culture Park (http://www.octloft.cn/about/oct-loft/)

15:15 - 17:30 Company Visit 2

17:45 - 18:45 SZ - HK PolyU

Price

The trip costs 75 USD. This price includes transportation from Hong Kong to Shenzhen and back, company visits, lunch, and some free time in the Oct Loft area. It is a pleasant green oasis with a design vibe.

Book through travel agent

Deadline for applications is 21 May, 2018. To book a seat on the trip, go to:

 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScX2o8iTkZrdnC2BAyMAkNoyAHGo1sANdg5aLNjmCdkxg-5hQ/viewform

 JCC (HK) Travel Co. Ltd will take care of registration and payments. You will be informed by 25 May about whether you get a seat and required to complete payment before June 1 2018. 

 If there are less than 20 participants, the trip will be cancelled. There is also an upper limit to the number of seats we could offer; the limit comes from company hosts. As of 30 April, it is still being negotiated, hopefully around 40. The seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. 

You MUST have a visa to enter China!

JCC will check your visa while you are boarding to the coach and will not let you in if your visa to China is not valid.  

 How to get visa:

- we highly recommend that you acquire the visa while still in your country of residence. Talk to a local travel agency or give a call to the Chinese Embassy

- you can get a visa through JCC while in Hong Kong if you arrive on Friday, June 8. Contact JCC (Ms Sylvia Lee, yamtvlhk@netvigator.com) in advance for arrangement of visa application. Applying in your country of residence will be cheaper. 

Conference organizers will not be able to help with visa.

Can you fly home on Thursday evening if you go to Shenzhen?

If your flight back home is around midnight or later on Thursday, you may be able to catch your return flight, but we do not recommend trying. Shenzhen has over 12 million inhabitants and it forms one continuous urban area with Hong Kong, which has 7.5 million inhabitants. A massive population is commuting between both sides daily for work. If the traffic gets bad, the return from SZ to HK may take much longer than scheduled.