LuoHu the Gateway to Jewelry Factories in China. LuoHu, one of the southernmost routes from Guangdong Provence mainland China to Hong Kong is the place where you pass through when you come to visit your China factories. A frenetic transportation hub, eclectic and somewhat questionable district in the ever-growing Shenzen city. Make sure you get on the right train going to the right place. LuoHu is the place where the Hong Kong MTR in the new territories meets the Shenzen Metro with the PRC checkpoint in between. When traveling by mass transit into mainland
China I would take the MTR to the Lo Wu station on the Hong Kong side and then begin my trek through the customs checkpoint. It is a surreal experience for sure especially after a long flight. Almost 100 million people pass through this hyper busy checkpoint annually, or at least pre-pandemic times. The sheer volume of the crowd is intense. It is competition for your personal space and its important to stand your ground without being confrontational.
Upon exiting the customs hall, you are thrust into an all-out assault on the senses with the intense noise volume, robust smells and smoke from a blend of burning cigarettes and street food carts that hit you all at once. The immediate onslaught of your senses, while not necessarily bad can feel extremely overwhelming and confusing. Almost intoxicating at times. It is all further exasperated by the constant calls and shouts from local unlicensed livery drives, the chatter of locals waiting for their loved one or international travelers asking directions to the nearest copy mall.
Most of my Asia trips are planned around jewelry and consumer product trade shows on the mainland like the Shenzen jewelry and manufacturing show or the Canton fair in Guangzhou as well as the Hong Kong Jewelry and watch fair so that I could get the most out my time on the ground. I usually would arrive in HK airport early morning call my wife to say good night and then make my way to mainland China to start working the same day. To normalize and “push through” the jetlag I would plan factory visits and meetings right off the bat. In order to maximize my days in China as much as possible I would move from district to district traveling in a circular flow starting in Shenzen, making my way up through Dongguan then circling west towards Panyu the gold district of the region then back to Shenzen before returning to Hong Kong again.
Generally, after all my travel to Asia I find China is a safe country to travel around for business. Most of the Chinese people you meet are pleasant, straightforward, and basically dependable. However, China like Europe and areas in popular tourist cities in the US is far is from being immune to crime. So, take the usual traveling precautions and enjoy your factory tours and the local cuisine.
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