TAIYUAN — In a spotless welding workshop at Geely Auto's Jinzhong facility, 8th-grader Zhang Heyuan watched in awe as robot arms,"almost like something out of Transformers", lifted, aligned and fused car frames sending sparks flying.

"My whole idea of a factory was heat, noise and people everywhere," said Zhang, a student from Jinzhong in North China's Shanxi province. "But here it's tidy, quiet and nearly devoid of human workers — it feels like stepping into a factory of the future."

Taking students like Zhang on tours of the production lines has become a regular practice for this private Chinese automaker, which said it has been hosting a growing number of factory tours.

In recent years, factory tours have become a popular addition to the already thriving study tours that Chinese parents are eager to send their children on to broaden their horizons. While earlier tours primarily focused on culture, tourism and fitness, factory tours have gained popularity driven by China's shift toward high-end, smart and green manufacturing.

Across the country, visitors — primarily schoolchildren — flock to factory tours hosted by electric vehicle manufacturers, robotics labs, dairy producers, brewers and traditional craft workshops.

Many slots at sought-after plants are often fully booked. For example, from the beginning of 2025 to late October, over 100,000 people had registered for tours at Xiaomi's electric vehicle plant in Beijing. To accommodate the surge in demand during the winter break, the plant planned to host 126 tour sessions this month, eight more than in December.

In such tours, factory floors are turned into interactive "classrooms" where students get real, hands-on experience and see Chinese manufacturing up close. Assembly lines bring textbook theories to life, while experienced engineers serve as instructors.

In the eastern city of Hefei in Anhui province, electric vehicle maker Nio's Second Advanced Manufacturing Base attracts streams of visitors to gain a glimpse of the futuristic factory floor. Highlights include a unique three-dimensional storage system that retrieves cars on demand and overpass-like intelligent assembly lines.

Schoolchildren can witness the entire production process of a new energy vehicle, attend automotive science lectures, and even make electric vehicle models. After opening to the public in 2018, two Nio factories in Hefei have welcomed approximately 300,000 visitors.

A mother nicknamed Dayuanzi shared on Chinese social media platform Rednote her family's road trip from Yancheng to Hefei to visit the Nio factory. "The world of cars in the eyes of my little one is becoming more vivid and fascinating," she posted.

Factory tours serve an invaluable purpose, according to Yang Yi, public affairs director at Nio Manufacturing, who said that showcasing industrial innovations to schoolchildren in such an engaging manner helps enhance their scientific literacy and allows them to "intuitively grasp China's position in the global technological landscape".

The expansion of factory tours coincides with China's upward movement in the global value chain. China is home to more than 500,000 high-tech enterprises and leads the world with over 40 percent of the global "Lighthouse Factories", which represent the leading edge of smart manufacturing and digitalization.

The country's manufacturing value-added output is expected to have contributed over 30 percent of global manufacturing growth during the 2021-25 period, and the country has maintained its position as the world's largest manufacturer for the past 15 years, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Getting a firsthand look at the vibrancy of modern manufacturing has heightened visitors' pride in China's growing industrial strength, inspiring more and more people to consider contributing to the sector.

After visiting Siasun Robot &Automation Co in Northeast China's Liaoning province, senior high school student Ma Hexuan said,"The tour allowed me to witness the power of technological innovation, and I hope to contribute to such industries in the future as well."

Liu Zhenyu, deputy head of the School of Information Science and Engineering at Shenyang University of Technology, said, "When students witnessed China's independently developed industrial robots performing precise operations on Siasun's production line, what shone in their eyes was not only curiosity but also a sense of pride."

While keeping students informed about technological advancements, these tours also help guide them in aligning their academic plans with societal needs, according to Xiong Bingqi, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute.

Another observer, Han Junhui, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development, said the factory tour trend may help cultivate a social environment that supports and embraces innovation."Smart factories transforming into industrial tourist attractions epitomize China's leap from traditional to smart manufacturing," he said.

Xinhua