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Canton Fair and Yiwu: A Buyer's Trip Planner

2026-10-08INSIGHTS

Canton Fair and Yiwu: A Buyer's Trip Planner

Canton Fair and Yiwu: A Buyer's Trip Planner

Canton Fair and Yiwu: A Buyer's Trip Planner

For B2B importers, the Canton Fair in Guangzhou and a sourcing visit to Yiwu are two halves of one China trip. The fair gives you scale and variety in a single venue; Yiwu gives you the market, the partner-factory network and the samples you can hold in your hand. This guide covers how to plan the trip, how to connect the two cities, and which entry route applies to your passport.

What the Canton Fair Offers Buyers

The Canton Fair is held in Guangzhou and runs in three phases, so buyers with a narrow product focus can plan around the phase that matches their category rather than attending the whole session. It is a large-scale exhibition with a substantial number of exhibitors, which is exactly why it works as a first filter: you can compare many suppliers in a few days, collect quotations and catalogues, and shortlist the factories worth a follow-up visit.

Visitor services for the fair are handled through its official website and app. Use those channels for the practical arrangements, and treat everything else as secondary. We do not obtain buyer badges, and we do not provide airport reception — plan those steps yourself through the official channels.

Planning the Trip: Guangzhou First, Then Yiwu

Keep the two cities separate in your logistics

Guangzhou and Yiwu are different cities in different provinces, and your travel plan should treat them as two separate legs. Book the internal leg between them as its own segment, and leave a buffer day on each side. Buyers who try to compress both into a single day usually end up doing neither properly.

Sequence your days by purpose

A practical pattern is: fair days first for broad comparison, then Yiwu for depth. In Guangzhou you are screening. In Yiwu you are confirming — checking samples, comparing materials and finishes, and discussing packing. If your shortlist includes home storage and houseware lines, our product range gives you a sense of the categories we handle, from 3-tier storage carts with handle to drawer storage racks with small bins.

Confirm goods before you book flights

You do not have to fly first and decide later. Video viewing (live video call) lets a buyer book a real-time call with us and see the goods and the packing on camera — at the Yiwu market, in our warehouse, or at a partner factory. The call must be booked in advance, and the buyer sends the list of items to be shown so we can prepare before the connection. This arrangement can be used before the buyer books flights to China: confirm the goods and the setup first, then decide whether to travel.

Entry Routes: Which One Applies to You

30-day unilateral visa-free entry

China's unilateral visa-free policy allows ordinary-passport holders travelling for business, tourism, family visits, exchange visits or transit of no more than 30 days to enter without a visa; those who do not meet the conditions still need to obtain a visa before entry. The duration of stay counts from 00:00 of the day after entry. This policy is valid until 2026-12-31.

The 30-day unilateral visa-free arrangement covers 11 countries, and these are not all the same type of arrangement: nine countries are unilateral visa-free — the four GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain) plus five South American countries (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay) — and two, the UAE and Qatar, are covered by mutual visa-exemption agreements rather than a unilateral policy. The common condition across all 11 is an ordinary passport and a stay of no more than 30 days for business, tourism, family visits, exchange visits or transit.

Visa-free entry does not require an invitation letter. The invitation letter is one of the supporting documents for an M (business) visa application and is unrelated to visa-free entry.

240-hour transit visa-free entry

The 240-hour transit visa-free policy applies to 57 countries (most recently expanded on 2026-08-20, adding Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam): 40 in Europe, 6 in the Americas, 2 in Oceania and 9 in Asia. The permitted stay is 240 hours (10 days), counted from 00:00 of the day after entry, and you must not overstay.

Yiwu Airport is a port of entry under this policy; transit visa-free travellers may stay across the whole of Zhejiang Province and travel across provincial borders within 24 provinces (regions, municipalities). The policy applies at 65 open ports of entry (as of 2026-08-20), six of them in Zhejiang: Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport, Ningbo Lishe International Airport, Wenzhou Longwan International Airport, Yiwu Airport, Wenzhou Port (passenger) and Zhoushan Port (passenger). The permitted activity area covers 24 provinces (regions, municipalities) with cross-provincial travel allowed; Zhejiang is covered province-wide, while some provinces limit travel to specific cities.

To apply you must present: a valid passport or other international travel document with at least three months' validity; a confirmed connecting ticket or proof of a ticket to a third country or region with a fixed date and seat within 240 hours; the temporary entry card for foreigners; and you must submit to border inspection examination and questioning. If you have not booked the connecting ticket before entry, the temporary entry procedure cannot be completed. "Transit" means travelling onward to a third country or region where the country or region of departure and the country or region of destination are different — that is, departure country ≠ China ≠ destination country.

During your stay under 240-hour transit visa-free entry you may engage in tourism, business, visits and family visits; work, study and news reporting require a visa obtained in advance, and activities inconsistent with the stated purpose of entry are not permitted.

Nationality notes worth checking twice

Among South American and Latin American countries, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile are on the 240-hour transit visa-free list; Peru and Uruguay are not on that list but are covered by 30-day unilateral visa-free entry. Mexico has no 30-day visa-free arrangement, so transit visa-free is its only visa-free route to China.

For buyers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Australia, note that as of 2026-02-17 the 30-day unilateral visa-free list covers 50 countries including the UK and Canada; the United States and Singapore are not on the 30-day unilateral visa-free list, while the UK, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Australia are. For the UK, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Australia, transit visa-free is therefore not an additional benefit. All of these countries are on the 57-country transit visa-free list.

African buyers: the route is open, and it needs a visa

No African country is on the 240-hour transit visa-free list of 57 countries — zero. Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania and Ethiopia, among others, are not covered. No African country is on the 30-day unilateral visa-free list either.

This does not close the route. African buyers travel to China and to Yiwu in large numbers on a business (M) visa. The invitation letter for that visa is normally issued by their Chinese supplier or partner — not by us. The route works; it simply requires a visa before departure.

Registration after arrival

During your stay in China you must complete accommodation registration in accordance with the law: if you stay in a hotel, registration follows hotel industry regulations; if you stay at an address other than a hotel, you or your host must report temporary accommodation registration to the local public security station within 24 hours of moving in. Failure to register lawfully will be penalised under the law.

What to Do in Yiwu After the Fair

Yiwu is where the shortlist becomes an order. On the day of a client visit, six things can be arranged: sourcing and matching — you describe your requirements and we match partner factories in China by material, process and price; Yiwu market sourcing — we are based in Yiwu and buy from the local market and the nationwide partner-factory network; quality inspection on request — our team checks samples and production batches and provides photo or video self-inspection records before shipment; export documents — we prepare shipping documents on FOB Yiwu terms and coordinate with the freight forwarder you appoint; partner-factory visits — you can visit the partner factory handling your order and appoint your own inspection company; and certificates — certificates are issued by the partner factory, and we verify them against your target market requirements (CE, SABER, NOM and others).

The booking process is three steps: first, you send the dates you plan to be in Yiwu and the products or factories you want to see; second, we reply and confirm the arrangements before you travel; third, we tell you whether to go to our office address or our warehouse address, depending on what you want to see. Visits are by appointment. We do not have a photo gallery of the premises; the alternative is a live video call to view goods.

One boundary to be clear about: we do not provide freight forwarding services. We do not book space, issue transport documents, collect freight charges, handle customs clearance or operate a consolidation warehouse — you arrange transport yourself or through a forwarder you appoint. Freight rates and transit times should be asked of your own forwarder; we do not quote freight or promise transit times. Our role in logistics is limited to preparing export documents on FOB Yiwu terms and coordinating with the forwarder you designate.

If you want to see the type of goods in advance, our catalogue covers categories such as PP utility carts with industrial wheels and narrow gap rolling carts, which are typical of the volume houseware lines buyers shortlist at the fair and confirm in Yiwu.

Before You Book

Two practical steps reduce risk on a first trip. First, verify the Chinese company you intend to work with through the official enterprise credit information publicity system, where registration and filing information, annual reports, administrative penalties and abnormal operating status can be checked by company name or unified social credit code. Second, if you are buying for resale, understand that China's 12315 complaint channel is built around consumers purchasing for personal living needs, so B2B disputes over goods bought for resale may fall outside it; commercial disputes between businesses are normally handled through mediation, arbitration or litigation.

Plan Your Yiwu Leg With Us

If you are attending the Canton Fair in Guangzhou and want to add a Yiwu sourcing leg, send us your travel dates and the product list you want to review. We will confirm what can be arranged during your visit, prepare the items you want to see, and give you a quotation for the goods you shortlist. Visits are by appointment, and a live video call can be arranged before you book your flights.

Policy status

Policies can change. Please confirm with your local Chinese embassy or consulate before travelling.

Sources

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