China's tech boom fuels a new wave of high-tech tourism from global investors and founders

For decades, the pilgrimage route for ambitious tech founders, investors, and engineers led to Silicon Valley. Now, a growing number of them are flying to Shanghai, Hangzhou, or Shenzhen instead.

China is seeing a surge in a new kind of tech tourism where visitors pay up to $9,000 for curated tours of electric-vehicle factories, robotaxis, and artificial intelligence and robotics companies.

The trend is partially triggered by viral videos of China's dancing humanoid robots and flying cars, creating a sense that the country may be moving faster than the West in key emerging technologies.