From January 4 to 10, 2026, a study tour group of the International Executive Master of Business Administration （IEMBA） program from the Business School of the University of International Business and Economics （UIBE） visited Hunan. The group successively visited Yuelu Academy, Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd., CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Co., Ltd., and Jinjian Rice Industry Co., Ltd., and participated in a government-enterprise symposium in Changde. The tour was an in-depth expedition integrating profound cultural heritage and industrial practice, facilitating the integration of traditional culture and modern industry, as well as academic theories and business practices.

The group’s first stop was the millennia-old Yuelu Academy. Walking through the academy, students gained insights into its historical evolution, academic inheritance, and the core spirit of Huxiang culture, drawing humanistic wisdom for business management from its profound cultural heritage.

In the afternoon, the group visited Zoomlion for an industrial tour. They first toured the intelligent manufacturing production lines in the assembly workshop and the exhibition areas for mining and agricultural machinery in the Earthmoving Machinery Park, and watched live excavator demonstrations, experiencing firsthand the company’s achievements in intelligent manufacturing. Later, they visited the corporate culture exhibition at Zoomlion’s headquarters R&D building to learn about its development history and brand accumulation.

Founded in 1992, Zoomlion is the first A+H listed company in the industry, covering three core sectors: construction machinery, mining machinery, and agricultural machinery. Adopting a global layout as its core development strategy, the company has established 11 overseas R&D and manufacturing bases and 23 world-leading intelligent factories worldwide. Its overseas business covers more than 180 countries and regions, with overseas revenue accounting for approximately 60%. With strong localized operation capabilities and product competitiveness, Zoomlion has built a distinctive Chinese brand image in the global equipment manufacturing industry. Meanwhile, the company has mastered a number of core technologies in intelligent, digital, and green development, creating innovative solutions such as smart mines and smart agriculture, providing high-quality equipment and services to global customers and leading the industry’s development.

The second stop of the study tour was CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Co., Ltd., where students conducted on-site visits and exchanges to explore the technological innovations of China’s rail transit equipment manufacturing and the company’s international cooperation practices under the Belt and Road Initiative.

The group visited production workshops, noise laboratories, and exhibition halls, gaining on-site insights into breakthroughs in key technologies such as traction motors and transformers, as well as application scenarios of core products including permanent magnet synchronous traction systems and intelligent operation and maintenance systems. Later, an interactive English discussion was held on the lawn outside the workshop, focusing on high-end equipment manufacturing, international operation, industrial collaborative innovation, and other topics.

As a core subsidiary of CRRC Corporation, CRRC Zhuzhou Electric is a leading enterprise in China’s rail transit equipment manufacturing sector, deeply engaged in electric locomotives, EMUs, urban rail vehicles, and other core fields. Many of its products have filled domestic gaps and reached international advanced levels, with self-developed core systems widely used in major projects such as the Fuxing EMU. Responding actively to the Belt and Road Initiative, the company’s products and services cover more than 100 countries across six continents, establishing a solid cooperation network in markets along the Belt and Road in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and other regions. It not only exports high-quality products but also promotes the localized integration of technical standards, management systems, and talent training, supporting industrial upgrading and capacity building in partner countries.

The visit enabled IEMBA students to deeply understand the technical strength and innovative vitality of China’s high-end equipment manufacturing, as well as the practical models of Chinese enterprises participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. It provided vivid cases for integrating international vision with industrial practice and built a communication bridge for further school-enterprise cooperation and industry-university-research integration between UIBE Business School and CRRC Zhuzhou Electric.

The third stop of the 2026 Hunan Enterprise Tour brought IEMBA students to Jinjian Rice Industry Co., Ltd. in Changde, Hunan, for in-depth visits and exchanges. The tour began with immersive visits to production workshops of Jinjian Dairy and Jinjian Rice Industry, where students learned about the entire production process of grain, oil, and dairy products. In the dairy workshop, they observed every step from raw material transportation, cold chain storage, strict testing, sample retention to finished product packaging, witnessing the efficient operation of modern production lines, and tasted featured products such as rice yogurt and fresh milk to experience product quality. In the rice workshop, automated processes including threshing, milling, polishing, and color sorting were demonstrated. Students observed and took detailed notes, while gaining a comprehensive understanding of raw material procurement, production processing, and quality control systems for Jinjian tea oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, and other grain and oil products.

Later, Mr. Hao Jianguo, General Manager of Jinjian Rice Industry Co., Ltd., Mr. Zhou Guisen, Deputy Party Secretary, and Mr. Huang Ya, Member of the Party Committee and Deputy General Manager, held a heated seminar with the students. Focused on corporate management and industrial development, the seminar was held in Jinjian’s conference room. General Manager Hao Jianguo introduced the group’s development history, industrial layout, and future strategic plans, highlighting practical experience in brand building, supply chain management, and market expansion. During the discussion, IEMBA students, combining their industrial backgrounds and management experience, actively exchanged views on the transformation and upgrading of the grain and oil industry, branded agricultural products, and digital operation of enterprises. Both sides discussed opportunities and challenges in the grain and oil food industry and how technological innovation empowers the high-quality development of traditional industries, creating a vibrant discussion atmosphere.

At the fourth stop, the IEMBA study tour group held a symposium with government and enterprise representatives in Changde. Ms. Lu Xiaofeng, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of Changde Municipal People’s Congress, Ms. Wu Caixia, Deputy Secretary-General of the Municipal Party Committee, Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Liuye Lake District, and Temporary Party Secretary of Changde Cultural Tourism Group, and other government-enterprise representatives gathered with 38 international students led by Ms. Wang Zhihui, Vice Dean of UIBE Business School, and IEMBA program administrators Ms. Cui Yuchen and Ms. Huichen Yu. The symposium, chaired by Ms. Wu Caixia, focused on industrial cooperation and exchanges to discuss collaborative development.

A Changde city promotion video was screened, showcasing the unique charm of the "City of Peach Blossom Land" in industrial development, ecological construction, and cultural heritage. Vice Dean Wang Zhihui introduced the educational philosophy and features of the IEMBA program, noting that it gathers global elites in economics and trade and builds a platform integrating theory and practice. She sincerely thanked the Changde municipal government and relevant enterprises for providing high-quality resources and thoughtful arrangements, enabling international students to experience the vitality of Hunan’s industrial development.

During the symposium, Changde Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, and Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs introduced the city’s famous products, import and export achievements, leading industrial enterprises, and agricultural production and sales layout. As an enterprise representative, General Manager Hao Jianguo shared Jinjian Rice Industry’s innovative practices and development experience in modern agriculture.

The exchange session was lively. Ms. Sestina, a trade official from the Ministry of Agriculture of Tanzania, discussed the potential for China-Tanzania agricultural trade cooperation and the expansion of agricultural product import and export channels with heads of Changde Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and Bureau of Commerce. Ms. Nara, a student from Cambodia and Administrative and Financial Director of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport of Cambodia, expressed gratitude for infrastructure projects carried out by many Hunan enterprises in Cambodia, which have greatly improved local transportation and living conditions and enhanced people’s quality of life. After the scheduled agenda, participants continued in-depth discussions on industrial cooperation, market expansion, and talent exchange.

In her concluding speech, Ms. Lu Xiaofeng introduced Changde’s development advantages and strategic layout in building a strong agricultural city, establishing a manufacturing-oriented city, invigorating the city through opening-up, and beautifying the city with ecology. She put forward three initiatives: building a school-local collaborative innovation community, fostering a government-enterprise integrated development ecosystem, and expanding an open cooperation circle. She sincerely invited international students and entrepreneurs to invest and develop in Changde to share development opportunities.

The symposium built an efficient and practical communication platform, enabling IEMBA students to fully understand Changde’s industrial potential and cooperation opportunities, while injecting new impetus into Changde’s efforts to connect high-quality resources and expand international cooperation, laying a solid foundation for further multi-field and multi-level cooperation.

UIBE Business School’s IEMBA program organizes on-site research for students in different provinces and cities every year, and the Hunan tour is a vivid continuation of this regular practice. It not only demonstrates the program’s commitment to cultivating interdisciplinary business talents with global vision, social responsibility, and cross-cultural communication capabilities but also builds a solid bridge for cross-provincial exchanges, injecting new momentum into regional business negotiations, cultural integration, technological cooperation, and educational linkages, and promoting consensus and joint progress in economic and social development. Meanwhile, this practice serves as an important bond for international students to deeply understand China. By visiting frontline industries, cultural sites, and people’s livelihood scenarios, students witness the development dynamics and unique charm of different regions in China, establishing a three-dimensional window to understand China’s national conditions and development model. From a cross-cultural perspective, they offer suggestions for local development, laying a solid foundation for enhancing economic, trade, and cultural exchanges between China and the world.