| Car sales boom, but what drives China? |
| Tuesday, 06 April 2010 |
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On April 10 I'm heading to Hangzhou, near Shanghai in eastern China, with four of my colleagues from Coventry University and a group of 30 media students – several of them from Coventry's postgraduate course in automotive journalism. We'll be there for two weeks, reporting on China's developing car market and motor industry and also looking at other forms of transport and the social and environmental impact of the changes China has experienced in recent years. The students will be producing a daily bilingual newsletter and a magazine (which will be available online – watch this space), posting stories to the CUToday news website, producing video reports and contributing to western media where possible. An exhibition of the students' work will follow in Coventry when we return. We're planning:
We're being hosted by a Chinese university, the Zhejiang University of Media and Communication in Hangzhou, which has had strong links with Coventry University for some years. Chinese media students will be working alongside the Coventry students throughout our two-week stay in China. Our trip is all about generating stories and producing content – words, photographs, video – so I'm interested in any suggestions for stories, leads or contacts. I'm also keen to hear from any magazine, newspaper or website with space for car content with a Chinese angle. If you've got any information for us, or you'd like us to generate some content for you, please contact me. Shanghai traffic image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/smokingpermitted/ / CC BY 2.0 |
China bought more than 13 million new cars in 2009, making it the biggest car market in the world. There are more than 100 local car makers, and dozens of joint-venture projects with western car makers and parts suppliers. Few western motoring journalists have ever examined this massive – and growing – market, but that's what I'll be doing over the next two weeks.
