Original by Sino-Cooperation Platform
January 21, 2026
Today, I had a meeting in Shenzhen that fundamentally changed my perspective on B2B networking in China. I met Mr. Wu, the founder of Industrial Control Brotherhood (工控兄弟连).
When we think of industrial associations, we usually imagine formal memberships and web portals. Mr. Wu, however, has built something entirely different:
the largest privately run smart manufacturing network in China.
The numbers are striking:
1,000,000+
industry professionals in the network
0
official websites
3,800+
WeChat groups
Instead of relying on a static homepage, the entire ecosystem operates through highly segmented chat groups—organized by industry niche, job level, and geography
Mr. Wu shared one example that illustrates the speed of this ecosystem:
In the past, filling a professional conference with 500 participants could take weeks.
Today, he posts the invitation in the groups, and the event is fully booked within one hour.
🎯 The Next Step
We will deepen our cooperation with this high-impact network.
Our goal is to give German hidden champions and smart manufacturing technology leaders visibility exactly where Chinese decision-makers are today: directly on their smartphones.
We look forward to further strengthening this bridge between German engineering excellence and China’s market dynamics.
#ChinaBusiness #SmartManufacturing #Industry40 #Networking #Shenzhen #WeChat #DigitalMarketing #GermanEngineering #B2B