China City Guides for Importers
Every city in China specialises in something: choosing where to go matters as much as choosing the right supplier. These guides, written from inside China, tell you what each city manufactures, its wholesale markets, how to get around, which apps you need and what to see between meetings.
Beijing cluster
Political and technological capital: home to major institutional trade fairs, R&D and high-level tech suppliers.
Chongqing cluster
Automotive and new-energy vehicles, motorcycles, electronics, machinery and intelligent manufacturing. A major western China production hub.
Fujian cluster
Footwear and sportswear (one of the world's largest clusters), plus tea and natural stone products.
Jinjiang 晋江
Jinjiang, in Fujian province, is "China's footwear capital": brands like Anta, 361° and Xtep are headquartered here, and the city concentrates thousands…
View guide →Xiamen 厦门
Xiamen is a coastal city in Fujian with a strong tradition in tea and natural stone trade, and a common gateway to…
View guide →Guangdong cluster
Electronics, toys, textiles and hardware. The country's largest concentration of exporting factories.
Dongguan 东莞
Dongguan is one of the world's largest manufacturing hubs, known as "the factory of the planet": electronics, toys and, above all, furniture,…
View guide →Foshan 佛山
Foshan is China's capital of ceramics and bathroom fittings, and also the birthplace of Wing Chun Kung Fu and Bruce Lee. Just…
View guide →Guangzhou 广州
Guangzhou (Canton) is the commercial capital of southern China and home to the Canton Fair. It combines futuristic skyscrapers with historic neighborhoods…
View guide →Shantou 汕头
Shantou, a former treaty port once known as Swatow, is "China's toy and gift capital": its Chenghai district concentrates over 4,000 manufacturers…
View guide →Shenzhen 深圳
Shenzhen went from fishing village to "China's Silicon Valley" in 40 years. It's the world's go-to city for electronics and hardware, with…
View guide →Zhongshan 中山
Zhongshan, in the Pearl River Delta, is the birthplace of Sun Yat-sen and "China's lighting capital": the town of Guzhen, within the…
View guide →Zhuhai 珠海
Zhuhai is a quiet coastal city facing Macau, known for Airshow China and the world's longest sea bridge (Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau).
View guide →Guangxi cluster
Agricultural machinery and a gateway for cross-border trade with Southeast Asia (ASEAN).
Hong Kong cluster
A financial and trading center: it doesn't manufacture, but concentrates buying offices, showrooms and re-export logistics.
Jiangsu cluster
Industrial machinery, technical textiles and mid-to-high-end electronics, with a strong heavy industry presence.
Liaoning cluster
Traditional heavy industry of the northeast: machinery, metallurgy and shipbuilding.
Shandong cluster
Agri-food, heavy machinery and textiles, with Qingdao as the great northern export port.
Shanghai cluster
The country's logistics, financial and fashion hub. Fewer factories of its own, but the entry point for many trading companies.
Sichuan cluster
A growing electronics and IT sector alongside a strong agri-food industry, with Chengdu as the great inland hub.
Tianjin cluster
Northern port and advanced-industry hub: automotive, aerospace, intelligent equipment, new materials, biomedicine and logistics.
Zhejiang cluster
Small commodities and costume jewelry (Yiwu is the largest wholesale market in the world), textiles and hardware components.
Hangzhou 杭州
Hangzhou is China's e-commerce capital (home to Alibaba) and one of the country's most beautiful cities thanks to the West Lake, a…
View guide →Ningbo 宁波
Ningbo is one of the world's largest ports and China's capital of stationery and office supplies, with over a thousand years of…
View guide →Wenzhou 温州
Wenzhou is China's capital of footwear and leather, and one of the cradles of Chinese private entrepreneurship: much of the Chinese diaspora…
View guide →Yiwu 义乌
Yiwu is built around the wholesale trade in small commodities. Its International Trade Market has close to 80,000 booths covering costume jewellery,…
View guide →Already know which city you are heading to? Check the trade fair calendar too, so your trip coincides with the fair for your sector. See the China trade fair directory →
