Geeking out: Unleashing industrial tourism to celebrate China's ingenuity

Obtaining an entrance pass to Xiaomi's car plant in suburban Beijing is like snagging front-row tickets to the world's hottest concert.

"Application accepted!" Wang Shuang crowed, posting a screenshot on social media. "The last time I felt this giddy was when I landed a Taylor Swift concert ticket."

Welcome to China's newest tourism craze — high-tech factories collaborating with ancient palaces and world-class museums to become must-see destinations.

China has been the world's manufacturing powerhouse for years. Yet, in just the past two years, the robust rise of smart manufacturing has revolutionized the country's once-dreary, clang-and-hiss assembly lines into a cultural phenomenon known as the "industrial Disneyland".

Chinese manufacturers aren't the ones who pioneered this factory fascination. France's Citroen ignited the trend in the 1950s, while Boeing and Toyota plants remain top draws in the United States and Japan.

As the country's industrial prowess ascends from the lower rungs of the global supply chain to a technology-driven frontier, a profound shift has taken hold. An increasing number of Chinese people now celebrate mechanical ingenuity with reverence, as their pride in homegrown sectors flourishes.

The registration page of Xiaomi, a headline-grabbing newcomer to the electric vehicle sector last year, was still live-ticking. Beside the tiny line that read "20 spots only", the counter read "4,060 already applied" as a scramble ensued to witness robotic arms assembling electric cars.

Wang snagged that coveted ticket only after camping on the official website for days, finger tap-dancing like a twitchy trigger, until the confirmation flashed on the screen.

Under the scorching sun, lucky visitor Wang stepped into the factory complex as scheduled. The two-hour journey felt like a tech-filled odyssey as she rode a shuttle that zipped through the six major workshops — stamping, large die-casting, body welding, painting, battery assembly, and final assembly.

In her past experiences, factories caused claustrophobia, were dusty, and filled with workers in safety helmets. This time, she saw robotic arms using micron-level precision on the factory floor and AI-driven robots moving freely along planned routes to deliver battery cell components to their destinations.

"It takes only 76 seconds to churn out a new car," Wang exclaims in amazement. "Faster than whipping up a latte."

NIO, another domestic EV manufacturer, opened its "Second Advanced Manufacturing Base" to the public in October 2023. Visitors can tour the facility to observe robotic arms in action from an elevated corridor. In 2024, over 130,000 people visited the site, including 900 from overseas.

The move to open production lines to the public came as China's new energy vehicles topped the global production and sales charts for nine consecutive years. Along with lithium batteries and photovoltaic products, they form China's "new export trio", showcasing the technological upgrades of "Made in China".

Freya Zhang, a research analyst at the investment consulting firm Tech Buzz China, told the journal Wired that China's EV factory tour "offers a chance to not only see the production line up close, but also experience the human side of the brand".

Beyond EVs, emerging tech hubs are also becoming pilgrimage sites. In Hangzhou, an innovation magnet in East China's Zhejiang province, robotics pioneers like Unitree Robotics draw curated tour groups.

At the AG600 final assembly plant in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, Guangdong province, where China's premier airshow is hosted, a steady stream of visitors files through the country's only extensive special-mission aircraft production line open to the public.

The AG600 line attracts roughly 40,000 visitors a year, with open-day slots nearly booked out to a crowd dominated by the younger generations. The domestically developed amphibious aircraft, which has entered mass production, can swiftly shuttle between water sources and fire sites, making it a powerful tool for firefighting.

Industry tourism destinations are also emerging from unexpected origins — waste treatment plants. Not far from Zhuhai, Shenzhen, an economic hub also in Guangdong, welcomes visitors to four such "eco parks".

One social platform user from Xiaohongshu (RedNote) posted about their visit: "The true spectacle lies in the industrial-scale choreography of the facility's central sorting hall, where a colossal hydraulic claw, operating with uncanny precision, plunges into mountains of refuse and sorts recyclables. It provides a sense of satisfaction akin to that of playing a claw crane game."

China hosts over 40 percent of the world's "lighthouse factories", which represent the highest level of global intelligent manufacturing. More assembly lines have been digitally transformed, creating an ideal foundation for transforming humans on factory floors into a cultural canvas.

More Chinese cities have made industrial tourism their new growth engine. In February, Beijing vowed to establish five national industrial-tourism demonstration bases by 2027 to become leading destinations by 2029.

The city's tourism blueprint includes opening high-level autonomous driving scenarios, rocket institutes, a low-altitude economy, and green energy routes, while inviting research institutions to grant public access to select labs and assembly halls.

Local governments are also looking to outfit industrial tourism with next-generation stagecraft. Shanghai is set to weave large language models, the metaverse and blockchain into richer cultural narratives. Hunan province in Central China will deploy AR, VR, AI, 5G, 3D cinema, and holography to build immersive worlds.

"Industrial tourism is a nexus where secondary and tertiary industries converge," says Chen Wei, an expert from Tsinghua University. "It can fuel consumption, expand domestic demand, and promote industrial science education."

Among the facilities listed as national industrial tourism demonstration bases are the aerospace supercomputing center in the island province of Hainan and the Zhuzhou electric locomotive production line in Hunan province, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

"Fast-tracking industrial tourism is a strategic move in building a modern industrial system, which serves to unlock growth potential for regional economic vitality," says Chen.