Grace

I was invited by Lorraine Justice, director of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s School of Design, to be one of three guest speakers at the opening in early June of HK Polytechnic’s new joint-venture International Design Center (IDC) with Zhejiang University. The IDC is physically based at two sites -- the Zhejiang University campus in Hangzhou, about 145 kilometers south of Shanghai, and at the brand new Ningbo University Science Park in the coastal industrial city of Ningbo, about 145 kilometers due east of Hangzhou.

The joint venture has been a year in the making, and the Zhenhai district government of Ningbo city is offering strong support to help get it kick-started. The aim is to stimulate industrial design, and product research and development, from education and training through real-world application with practical assistance for manufacturers and brand owners in the region.

The pride and excitement among those involved in the project was palpable. The June 5 ceremony at Zhejiang University included guest speeches in a morning presentation to a number of design students, educators and a handful of manufacturing types. A van then took a dozen or so of us to Ningbo, straight to a dinner at a Party-run hotel with local government leaders and Ningbo university officials. It also included an official, invitation-only greeting session (in Chinese, with no interpreter) from the Party secretary of the People’s Government of the Ningbo Zhenhai district, at which Justice was the guest of honor.

After a Chinese banquet with all the trimmings and countless bottoms-up toasts, we finally arrived at our hotel -- a sparkling new, ultracontemporary, 38-story Marriott on the banks of the Yuyao River that had opened three days earlier.

An early start the following morning took us to the Ningbo University Science Park, with its soaring, curved glass building connected to a glass, globe-shaped structure -- all very modern and high-tech. A brass band, red carpet, streamers, sprays of fresh flowers, confetti cannons, and seating for a few hundred guests outside made it clear this was an opening of some significance in the local community.

I had a prime seat in the first row, along with my traveling companions. Twenty-some local dignitaries, plus Justice, were seated on the long, raised dais outside, and half-dozen or so of them made short speeches before they unveiled the official plaque signifying the opening of the science center. Cannons boomed, confetti and streamers swirled amongst the smoke and then fireworks blasted off from the front edge of a raised speaker platform, with the smell of sulphur filling the air.

The only problem was that one of the many fireworks projectiles -- cardboard canisters about the size of a large, oval shot glass -- hit the HK Polytechnic official sitting next to me in the eye. As talented as the engineers are at the science center, I guess pyrotechnics management is not among the required courses. That led to some scary moments, but after a visit to the local hospital, she was declared OK.

Those of us who did not go to the hospital got a brief tour of the IDC’s empty, unfinished space on the top floor of the center’s main, 17-story building. Justice said local officials allowed the IDC directors to pick whatever space they wanted in the complex, and then gave it to them to use, rent-free, for the next two years. The view from the large windows wrapping around the IDC studio space revealed many more buildings going up on the science center land, and a small-scale model down in the lobby area showed what it will look like when it’s all done.

While in the lobby, after an impromptu interview done in English for a Chinese television station, Justice met two officials from a Dutch industrial firm that is planning to set up shop in the Ningbo area -- a sign, perhaps, of things to come in terms of foreign investment in the region.

Our team then all piled into the van again, and, after a rushed lunch, the Hong Kong contingent headed to the airport to fly home, and I headed by car back to Shanghai. The two-hour journey took me over another feat of Chinese engineering -- the Hangzhou Bay Bridge ( www.hangzhoubaybridge.com). This six-lane, cable-stayed bridge, at 36 kilometers, is the longest trans-oceanic bridge in the world. It opened May 2, after a decade of planning and construction, at a cost of 11.8 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion). The bridge cuts in half the 240 kilometer distance by road between Ningbo and Shanghai and has become a tourist spectacle in its own right.

All told, the whirlwind two days revealed much about China’s ambitions, achievements and shortcomings. For one, the plans surrounding our visit, speeches and the like changed daily, causing some confusion and much stress for those involved in the planning. But that is typical China. Multiply that by the fact that government officials were part of the process, meaning that whenever a higher-level local Party official decided to alter the plans, everybody leapt into action and followed the cues, regardless of the disruptive consequences. I arrived in Hangzhou expecting to deliver the same speech twice at ceremonies on successive days in the two different locations. But, of course, plans changed, and the speeches on the second day were scratched at the last minute. Again, welcome to China! These habits are not conducive to efficient, productive execution, but also appear unlikely to change anytime soon.

The pomp and protocol, meanwhile, were fascinating and somewhat amusing to observe. The Hangzhou agenda even included -- and I kid you not -- a start time with the words “Ceremony girls in position.” These were the lithe young ladies in traditional red silk dresses who carried the official IDC plaque to the stage.

The structures, from the lovely Hangzhou campus and lakeside area to the Ningbo science center itself to the new Marriott hotel to the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, served as reminders of China’s landscaping and engineering prowess. And, perhaps most importantly, the demonstrated commitment by local government and university officials to provide an environment conducive to quality education and professional resources related to design research, product development and brand building underscored some of the very keys to China’s manufacturing future.

Robert Grace is editor and associate publisher of Plastics News. To view a 2-minute video of the Ningbo science center opening, and an interview with Lorraine Justice, go to www.plasticsnews.com/china/idc