Zhongguancun

3 July 2010 - I probably do not pronounce "Zhongguancun" correctly, but it is the address of Beijing's Silicon Valley. It's a relatively new area - not far from the former emperor's summer palace - that all technology and IT nerds can no longer miss when visiting Beijing. Thousands of high-tech companies have settled here, ranging from all sizes local firms to the big multinationals as Microsoft, Siemens and NEC. Famous Tsinghua University has also opened its Tsinghua Science Park here. Tsinghua is one of China's elite universities, and only 2,000 out of the 7 million students that annually graduate for college can enter the university. Interestingly, Tsinghua encourages its professors and (former) students to set up companies in the area. The area is also frequently by the "sea-turtles" the local name for Chinese students who have studied overseas and now return home for career and wealth. I am not an IT nerd, nor a sea-turtles so I felt totally out-of-place.