Raincity's international man of Drupal - accompanied by a retinue of Drupalists - are jetting off to Barcelona today fresh off the networking success (and curious food) of China.

While on their trip, Robert and Kris organized BarCamp Beijing and BarCamp Shanghai - a series of unconferences in which participants are the show - with free form workshops in 4 languages organized on the fly on a giant (and very analog) planning board.

Their involvement in the camps started off almost as a coincidence when the lads were in China on business (with a bit of pleasure to be sure) and fresh off the BarCamp groove in North America. They took their enthusiasm and wrangled up an event in Shanghai which catalyzed a teeny-tiny revolution in China.

This time around featured a debut in Beijing with about 100 attendees plus 150 at the second Shanghai gig - up from 80 in the inaugural event in 2006.

While I think their winning personalities (no i am not sucking up here) help them launch the events and gain critical mass, truly the need for face-to-face communication and peer learning is dire anywhere but especially in a country with so many restrictions about what you can and can't do online.

I also suspect a great deal of self-empowerment occurs at these events as Campers realized they are not alone and that many other people are also exploring technology and using digital tools to spark social change or just make life a bit nicer - for business or pleasure.

Kris comments on this thought saying, "I think the success of the BarCamps in Beijing and Shanghai will help foster peace and openness and create business and friendship opportunities for people on both sides of the Pacific."

Indeed with the mix of ex-pats, traveling businessfolk and locals of all kinds, the big idea of bringing people together for fun and good is not far-fetched.

I'll save additional commentary of my own when I fire up the recorder with the vanquishing geeks and instead let Ellen Lee of SFGate.com take the wheel with an excerpt of her Sept. 4th article, " BarCamp goes to Beijing" including a quote from Monsieur Scales himself.

The BarCamp spirit is spreading to China.

BarCamp is the "unconference" that originated in the Silicon Valley, with the basic premise that, unlike a traditional conference with a set agenda and speakers, the day is a blank page. Anyone can volunteer to lead a talk, so it depends on who shows up and pitches an idea.

{snip}

Krug and Scales are hoping the Chinese will organize future BarCamps even when they're not there. "No one has taken the lead yet," Scales said. But at the same time, "I think China is yearning to engage in conversation. It's the same around the world. They want to share."