From "visiting a factory" to "stepping into the future": Kunshan's industrial tours offer a new way of learning

Kunshan - August 15, 2026 - From raw beans to a cup of coffee, how many steps are needed? How is an ordinary ballpoint pen made from the raw materials? And how do robots make their way into factories, fields, and daily life? This summer, these answers-once hidden behind production lines-are revealed to Kunshan's youngsters who explore them on site.

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Since early this year, Kunshan has offered a series of industrial study tour routes featuring coffee production, low-altitude economy, embodied intelligence, and smart fashion manufacturing, transforming its industrial resources-such as production workshops, industrial parks, and innovation platforms-into immersive learning scenarios. So far, the city has organized 44 such industrial tours for over 1,300 children and teens.

In the past, factories, typically featuring high walls, massive workshops, and high-speed operation lines, were rarely related to the everyday lives of youngsters. However, today, those in Kunshan have opened their doors to this group.

For these participants, an industrial tour is not just a simple visit to a factory, but a growth experience that brings them closer to an industry, helps them understand their city, and sparks exploration of the future. For Kunshan, it is also an experiment in bridging industries and the city, manufacturing and daily life, and the present and the future.

Turning production lines into "classrooms"

At Yizheng Coffee Roastery, the kids observed the physical, chemical, cupping and microbiological testing of coffee beans as well as the intelligent roasting production line through transparent walkways. At TrueColor Stationery, they saw the complete process of a ball pen being made from raw materials. At Joylive Elevator, they gained a better understanding of the operations of various elevators through the real-time IoT platform displays. At GIANT's smart workshop, the precision welding, robotic arms and automated painting lines give the young visitors a tangible understanding of how the bicycles are efficiently produced today.

In these visits, industry is no longer just an abstract concept-it is a tangible experience that can be observed, touched, and understood. This is a key philosophy behind Kunshan's design of such industrial tours: not only letting children "see," but also letting them "do."

Assembling parts, making handicrafts, disassembling tires from a bicycle, piloting drones, and interacting with robots-"observation plus hands-on practices" is a common feature across many routes. By transforming production scenarios into practical classrooms, manufacturing knowledge that once seemed distant comes alive, and the spirit of craftsmanship is no longer confined to concepts in textbooks.

From a "single factory" to an "entire industrial chain"

Opening the doors of factories is just the first step of the industrial tours, while helping children understand the city's industrial landscape is the greater goal Kunshan aims to achieve.

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On the route themed "Little Barista's Adventure", the participants do not simply visit a single coffee company. They start at a coffee industry innovation center to learn about the origins of coffee beans and the industrial context, then move on to a coffee production factory to observe the entire processing chain, and finally arrive at Xiemaqiao Village to experience coffee-themed cultural creativity and see how industry empowers rural revitalization. A single coffee bean thus connects trade, warehousing, R&D, roasting, branding, marketing, and new rural business models.

This industrial-chain-focused perspective is adopted through other tour routes as well. On the "Childlike Joy - The Happiness of Never-Grow-Up" route, children draw cards to take on roles such as "product designer," "quality control engineer," "brand promotion officer," and "product experience officer," learning from different professional perspectives how a concept is transformed into product in market. On the "Smart Fashion Manufacturing, Riding the Trends" route, the participants explore the incubation of viral IPs like "Mr. Zhou" and "Coach Liu," visit the Chenfeng Fashion Creative Industrial Park to trace a garment's entire journey from a creative design to a product for sale, and then head to Blue Dragonfly Aviation to learn about its independent R&D of low-altitude aircraft. Through this tour, they experience across different industrial scenarios how creativity, technology, and manufacturing converge and integrate.

These industrial tours no longer present an isolated production line, but a complete picture of how a product is created, how an industry grows, and how industry becomes part of urban life.

As a manufacturing powerhouse, Kunshan's total industrial output of enterprises above the designated size has exceeded one trillion yuan for five consecutive years, reaching 1.3 trillion yuan in 2025, with industrial investment surpassing 30 billion yuan. It plays a leading role among comparable cities nationwide in terms of the development of industries such as artificial intelligence, next-generation information technology, and high-end equipment, with over 35,000 industrial enterprises forming its industrial foundation. For grownups, these numbers are direct indicators of economic development; but for children, only when they are embodied in factories, products, and hands-on experiences can the city's industrial strength become truly tangible and comprehensible.

From"visiting a factory" to "stepping into the future"

Industrial tours also serve as a bridge between the city and the next generation. On the route themed "Kunshan's Rise: My Hometown, My Pride," the participants visit the Kunshan Science and Technology Expo Center to learn about the city's transformation from an agriculture-focused county to a city ranking first among China's top 100 counties (county-level cities) in terms of comprehensive strength. They also step into the Kunshan Comprehensive Bonded Zone to feel the pulse of export-oriented economic development, and visit Qingyang Future Port to see how new industries-such as digital economy, headquarters economy, and low-altitude economy-are shaping the city's new future.

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This route does not present the city's development through a string of tedious numbers; instead, it embeds the "Kunshan Path" into real urban spaces. What the participating children see is not just how enterprises have taken root and grown, but also how a county has repeatedly faced choices and pushed beyond boundaries time and again.

On other routes, the participants encounter a completely different Kunshan: the coffee industry connecting with rural revitalization, smart agriculture bringing a "tech-savvy" feel to traditional farmland, robots entering factories and daily life, the low-altitude economy extending life's reach into the skies, and the fashion industry integrating with digital technology to create new consumer scenarios.

For teenagers who are at a critical stage of exploring further education, career choices, and life directions, this experience is more tangible than an abstract career planning lecture. For the first time, they truly see what careers exist within an industry, what kind of team is needed behind a product, and what possibilities a city can offer for personal growth. Urban development and individual growth are woven together through these industrial tours. By transforming its accumulated industrial resources into public educational assets, Kunshan is helping the next generation rediscover the city where they live and reimagine their own future.

About Kunshan

Kunshan is a dynamic and prosperous city in the Yangtze River Delta, located between Shanghai and Suzhou. Known for its strong manufacturing base, advanced industries, and vibrant private economy, Kunshan is one of China's most economically developed county-level cities. It has attracted numerous international companies and built a globally connected industrial ecosystem spanning electronics, precision manufacturing, automotive, and emerging technologies. Kunshan is also rich in cultural heritage, featuring Zhouzhuang, one of China's most renowned ancient water towns. Combining economic vitality, innovation, cultural heritage, and livability, Kunshan serves as an important hub for regional development and international cooperation.
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