A Guide to Doing Business Face to Face in China
The best way to get there is by flying into Hong Kong either direct or indirect (a short stop over in Dubai is usually cheapest) an economy ticket should set you back around 3 Once in Hong Kong there are a variety of ways of making it up to Guangzhou but I find that the easiest and cheapest way is by train, all trains run from Hung Hom station in Kowloon and arrive at Guangzhou East station in Guangzhou, tickets are around $190HK one way.A few years ago we stopped at a very small booth just showing a handful of products, we now spend around $5 million a year with them!The show is made up of booths each representing a factory, trading company or agent.
There is no point spending hours at the first interesting company you come across only to find the same thing 50 meters away but 20% cheaper.It is impossible to gauge the size of the company just by their booth, don’t judge a book by its cover, some of the smallest booths are inhabited by the largest companies. April and October. Take your time and wander around for the first day and identify the useful looking booths and make a note of them to come back to. For detailed information, you can consult the foreign affairs office of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government where your host is located ie Guangzhou.
The show is HUGE and covers just about every sector of product that you can think of. You will need a Letter of invitation from a company or institution in China or Visa Notification Form issued by an authorized unit in China (Visa notification refers to the form of visa notification issued by the Chinese government departments, companies and social organizations authorized by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. You will also need to register for the fair, again can be done through the website. You will first and foremost need a Chinese Visa which you obtain through a Chinese embassy here in the UK – chinese-embassy. A Guide to Doing Business Face to Face in China By far the best place to start is with the Canton Fair 2012 in Guangzhou – cantonfair.
