BRITF

Binzhou Advanced Technology High School

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

New schoolyear

On 1 September 2020 we joined the opening event of the new schoolyear in the Binzhou Advanced Technology High School. See earlier post.

We left very early in the morning for the school, 7 a.m. (no breakfast), crossing once more the Yellow River.
In the large auditorium we joined the official event. There were several speeches, also one by myself as chairman of the board.

I then handed out the signed notebooks to the over 90 students, one by one, and taking a picture with each.
We later went to four classes where me and Dasha talked with the students. Dasha is a young lady from Belarus who works for UWEE and speaks fluent Chinese. We communicated mostly in Chinese as the students just started and their English is still very elementary. Many of the students plan to study abroad after graduation.

My short speech for the event

“I am happy to be here with you today for this important event.
It is my 4th visit to Binzhou. I am impressed by the quality and diversity of Binzhou’s education facilities, the elementary and middle schools, the universities, the vocational schools and professional training facilities.
Yesterday I talked about the challenges China and the world are facing, and the difficulties for all of us.
China has become a world power but it needs to face the challenges and become stronger and better. China needs well educated young people, who can make the bridge between China and the world.
I am sure this beautiful campus will give you the means to become international pioneers.
Study well and make China greater!”

Another tour of the school facilities

Workers were still installing air conditioners in the dormitories of the students.
The campus has a soccer field, running track and other sports facilities. There is a room for dancing and a large indoor hall for basketball and other, with showers and changing rooms.
Lunch was in the canteen where we approved the food served to the students and staff.

The pictures give a good idea about the quality of the installation, see also the previous post. Pretty impressive! We wish UWEE success with the operation and we hope next years to have over 1,000 students!

In the afternoon we drove back crossing the Yellow River and had a rest in the hotel; in the evening other program, will be in another post!

Schools in Shandong Binzhou

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

A busy 31 August 2020

This is the second article about our visit, exploring the schools in Shandong Binzhou.
We left the hotel in the early morning, crossed the Yellow River to first visit the Binzhou High-tech Zone Experimental School. It is a elementary boarding school set up in 2005. with 900 students. Seven years of education for students 6 to 14 years old.

See the pictures of the class rooms, the dormitories, the sport facilities, the canteen and also the art work done by the students. The installation is very modern and clean, a high standard really.
We met with the school board for the presentation of the school.

We then left for Binzhou Advanced Technology High School, where the students of the elementary school can continue their studies.

Binzhou Advanced Technology High School

See the pictures of our visit: the campus, dormitories, sports facilities, canteen, classes. We had a very nice lunch in a private room in the canteen.

The school, affiliated to UWEE, is a double-track-system school. They are aiming to strive for excellence and it is their responsibility to foster global-minded talents with an international perspective to implement the Belt & Road Initiative. The goal is to build a strong foundation on the basis of an education system of college entrance examination in China, while meeting the standard of international education, to truly achieve a seamless transition to prepare the students to be ready for the world from diversified and individualized learning and practices. English courses will be an important part, among other languages.

The school now has only 90 students, it just started operation in June 2020 and of course the virus made it all more complicated. The goal for next year is 2000 students.

The buildings are owned by the government who contributed 80% of the investment; the school is managed and operated by UWEE. It plans to have 30 foreign teachers, a few have started already.
Students pay some RMB 38,000 per year; UWEE pays RMB 8,000 per student to the government.

If anybody is interested to send students, give me a sign and Ms. Dasha of UWEE will provide all information. She works with the school and is also a great interpreter; from Belarus. You can see her in the pictures.

After the lunch we had the seminar, with several speeches. I gave the following speech:

200831 Binzhou_speech

I was a bit worried how my words would be received but the feedback was very positive, they basically agreed with me…
I then had to sign more than 90 notebooks for the students, to be given out the next day.

Lamb dinner in the city

In the evening we had dinner in a local restaurant, see the pics.

No health checks, mostly no masks… all very relaxed.

Trip to Shandong Binzhou

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Another visit of Binzhou

We had another trip to Shandong Binzhou, leaving Beijing on 30 August and back home in Beijing on 2 September 2020. I have been there several times, the city is very modern and well managed, with a wide range of educational facilities as reported earlier.

I was a bit nervous to travel with all the COVID-19 issues but all went well, no problems with the Health App, no problem checking into the hotel in Binzhou, Guiyuan Hotel. Nice suite, of course zero English or foreign TV channels. At one time the hotel was completely full.

We drove by car, it took nearly 5 hours and about 4 hours back, thanks to the excellent driver Mark Geng of UWEE! See our usual stop on the highway, the fast-food where we bought our snack for the trip. We were also lucky returning to Beijing, it took some minutes to pass the control post on the Tianjin – Beijing highway.

The trip was organized by UWEE to participate in the Belt and Road International Talent Base Project Construction Seminar. I participated as the Chairman of the SAFEA Foreign Experts team, see here.
We were received by several departments: Binzhou United Front Work Department, Binzhou Foreign Affairs Bureau, Binzhou Beijing office, and Binzhou International Talent Exchange Association.
Organizer: Binzhou Advanced Technology High School; co organizers: Binzhou Medical College, Binzhou College, Binzhou Vocational College.

More details to come!

A sumptuous banquet

On our arrival we were treated by the local government to a sumptuous banquet with an immense amount of dishes. Baijiu and red wine flowed freely and one lady was an experienced drinker…

The banquet room had an interesting acoustics, allowing to hear the other participants on the other side of the huge table.
For those not familiar with those banquets, the pictures are educative… It was delicious! Hungry!

Interview posted on YouTube

Interview done in Beijing on 7 July 2020 in view of my appointment as chairman of the board of directors of Binzhou Advanced Technology High School. Location: Morel’s Restaurant. (Need VPN in China)

Binzhou Flying College

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Flying school

Binzhou Flying College is located in Binzhou University (Chinese: 滨州学院) is a public university located in Binzhou, Shandong province.
The university was established in 1958.
The university offers 38 diplomas, with 19 undergraduate majors. It is the first regional university in China to offer flight training for pilots. It operates a number of research centers and institutes in diverse areas including ecology, military science, history and ancient books. It has received 23 Provincial Scientific Research awards and has published extensively in the field of science.
Faculty and Students:
The university hosts a student body of approximately 18,000 full-time students, with a teaching faculty of over 700.

The University has set up Flying College since 2006 and became the first regional university to train pilots in China. I could not find s decent website in English for the University and the Flying College.
The Binzhou Flying College has several sections, such as intensive courses, maintenance of aircraft and parts, training for flight control in airport and other. It is said to have some 1,500 students.

The visit on 30 November

In front of Binzhou Flying College there are two planes, can also be used for training.
See the flight simulators, the workshops for maintenance training, classrooms, assembly of model planes, training for airport flight management (see the video clip, click to play).

191130 airportcontrol2

China lacks commercial pilots and as for now has to employ many foreign pilots (Brazil and other countries).
The students can practice in the Aircraft City where Shandong Bin Ao is located.
See the pictures:

Shandong Bin Ao Aircraft Industries

Shandong Bin Ao Aircraft Industries Co., Ltd. is located in the Dagao Town, Zhanhua County, Binzhou City.
The company was founded in 2008. It is a joint venture set up by Diamond Aircraft Industries GmbH. The joint venture manufactures mainly DA40 Diamond Aircraft with a yearly production scale of 500 aircraft.

See: www.bin-ao.com (Chinese only)

Diamond Aircraft Industries GmbH/Shandong Bin Ao delivered 40 DA40 and 10 DA42 aircrafts to China. The aircraft, manufactured in Austria, Canada and China, are primarily used for commercial pilot training.

About the Diamond Group

See: https://www.diamondaircraft.com/en/about-diamond/why-diamond/

In 1981 Hoffmann Aircraft GesmbH was established as a 100% subsidiary of Simmering-Graz-Pauker AG with its head office in Vienna and began the production of the Diamond MK II.
Diamond Aircraft, headquartered in Austria with facilities in Canada and China, is amongst the leading aircraft manufacturer in General Aviation. Founded in 1981, Diamond has pioneered many aviation firsts and achieved numerous milestones and industry expert accolades.

Today, Diamond Aircraft has more than 1,000 employees worldwide and offers the most complete range of certified piston aircraft models: from the 2 seat single DA20 to the stunning 7 seat DA62. With its complete line of piston aircraft including a dedicated flight training concept with Single Engine Piston (DA40 NG) and Multi Engine Piston (DA42-VI) trainers, along with type-specific flight training simulators and proprietary engines, Diamond Aircraft is the only sole source provider in the fleet training market.

In 1996 the company was first named named Diamond Aircraft.
First flight of a jointly developed multi-engine hybrid electric aircraft, commenced on 31 October 2018.
In 2017 Wanfeng Aviation Industry CO., LTD acquires the Diamond Group, including Austria, Canada and Austro Engine.

Binzhou Bohai Piston

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

The company

Shandong Binzhou Bohai Piston Co., Ltd (SBBP) is one of the 520 State Enterprises in China, located in Binzhou (Shandong) and has over 60 years of history (founded in 1951).

Website: http://www.bhpiston.com/en/gywm_gsjj.asp

Core product of SBBP is high performance piston with diameters of Φ30mm-Φ350mm. See some samples in the pictures.

Piston variety is over 1000 and annual production capacity is 30 million pieces, widely applied in all kinds of sedan car, motorcycles and marine engines, engineering machinery and other.

Main customers include famous large scale auto works and engine manufacturers in the domestic market and overseas, such as GM, DaimlerChrysler Ford, Caterpillar, Cummins FAW Wuxi Diesel Engine CO, FAW Dalian Diesel Engine Co, Shanghai Diesel Engine Co, Yulin Diesel Engine Co, Dongfeng Chaoyang Diesel Engine Co, Chery Automobile Dongfeng Cummins Engine Co, Beiqi Foton Motor Co, Nanjing Fiat Automobile, Harbin Dongan Power Co, Yunnei Power Co, Daewoo Heavy Industries & Machinery, Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp. in USA, Greaves Cotton Limited in India. It has a 220 service parts distribution network covering 34 provinces in China and occupies 30% of the comprehensive market share and over 40% share of the heavy-duty truck market in China.

International quality system related to manufacturing of automobile components and standards: ISO90OO, QS-9000, VDA6.1, ISO/TS16949, IATF16949, ISO14001, OHSAS18001, among other.
In June 2015, SBBP state-owned equities were incorporated into Beijing Automotive Group.

Visit to SBBP

On 30 November 2019 our delegation of foreign specialists visited the enormous factory.
See the pictures where you will notice the whole manufacturing chain is automated and very few if any workers are around.

All in all pretty impressive…

Bohai Advanced Technology Research Institute

We also visited the rather enormous construction site of this future Institute.

I am always impressed by the massive scale of those sites… and the speed they work…