Zhejiang College Opens Luban Workshop at Kyrgyz State Technical University

On October 26, 2024, Zhejiang College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower (浙江水利水電學院) and Kyrgyz State Technical University (吉爾吉斯斯坦國立技術大學) officially unveiled the Kyrgyzstan Luban Workshop in Bishkek, a vocational training center offering degree and non-degree instruction in water conservancy, electrical engineering, machinery, and road and bridge engineering. Kyrgyz State Technical University president Mirlan Chynybaev called it the largest Luban Workshop in Central Asia, with 15 laboratories and three “smart classrooms,” and the most important education cooperation project between the two countries. Zhejiang college party secretary Qian Tianguo (錢天國) said the project aimed to build a model of Belt and Road educational cooperation and contribute to a China-Kyrgyzstan “community of shared future” — a reference to Xi Jinping’s key foreign policy concept, and an indication of how China has used the Luban network as a form of public diplomacy. After a second construction phase began in 2025, the workshop trained Kyrgyz personnel in smart manufacturing and hydropower operations and hosted more than 100 visiting government, university, and business delegations from both countries. On June 17, 2025, the People’s Daily devoted a full page to the workshop as part of a China-Central Asia cooperation special report, and China Media Group (中央廣播電視總台), Xinhua, and Kyrgyzstan’s state broadcaster covered it as well, with footage screened at the China-Central Asia Summit. The Luban Workshop model originated from a Tianjin-based vocational education pilot and opened its first overseas site in Thailand in March 2016, before expanding to more than 20 countries across Asia, Europe, and Africa. China’s Ministry of Education oversees the program’s development standards through a dedicated expert committee, and the network has been folded into national vocational education policy initiatives since 2018.