Pension plan (Details Narrative)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2021 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2021 CNY (¥)	Dec. 31, 2020 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2020 CNY (¥)	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2019 CNY (¥)
Aggregate contributions to pension plans and retirement benefit schemes \| $	$ 225,000		$ 104,000		$ 332,000
ZHEJIANG TIANLAN
Aggregate contributions to pension plans and retirement benefit schemes \| ¥		¥ 6,003,000		¥ 5,645,000		¥ 5,449,000

Amount of cash outflow for pension benefit. Includes, but is not limited to, employer contribution to fund plan asset and payment to retiree. Excludes other postretirement benefit.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 25
-Subparagraph (g)
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=126954810&loc=d3e3536-108585

Name:	us-gaap_PensionContributions
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration