Summary of significant accounting policies (Details Narrative) ¥ in Thousands, $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2018 CNY (¥)	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2017 CNY (¥)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 CNY (¥)
Research and development costs \| $	$ 184		$ 163		$ 475
Advertising and promotional expenses \| $	$ 16		$ 13		$ 13
ZHEJIANG TIANLAN
Research and development costs \| ¥		¥ 14,363		¥ 12,873		¥ 13,808
Advertising and promotional expenses \| ¥		¥ 0		¥ 4		¥ 58

The aggregate costs incurred (1) in a planned search or critical investigation aimed at discovery of new knowledge with the hope that such knowledge will be useful in developing a new product or service, a new process or technique, or in bringing about a significant improvement to an existing product or process; or (2) to translate research findings or other knowledge into a plan or design for a new product or process or for a significant improvement to an existing product or process whether intended for sale or the entity's use, during the reporting period charged to research and development projects, including the costs of developing computer software up to the point in time of achieving technological feasibility, and costs allocated in accounting for a business combination to in-process projects deemed to have no alternative future use.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 985
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6501960&loc=d3e128462-111756

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 730
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6420194&loc=d3e21568-108373

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