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The Complete Guide for Planning your Trip to the Canton Fair

- Written by SDC 13 Comments

The Canton Fair

The Canton Fair is held every six months on the island of Pazhou, at the China Import and Export Fair Complex (380, Yuejiang Zhong Road, Guangzhou).

This is the biggest Commercial Exhibition Fair on the planet. Just to cite a few numbers, in the Spring edition of 2015, some 24,713 manufacturing companies (or wholesalers) participated and 184,801 foreign importers.

In this article you’ll find all you’ll need to plan your trip to the fair. Specifically, we will cover the following topics:

Canton Fair – Index

  1. When does the Canton Fair begin?
  2. How to sign up for the Canton Fair
  3. Visa for the Canton Fair
  4. International flights to China
  5. How to get to Guangzhou from Hong Kong, Beijing or Shanghai
  6. Tour to attend the Canton Fair
  7. Hotels for the Canton Fair
  8. Health Insurance
  9. Internet and communications
  10. Getting around Guangzhou by taxi or metro
  11. Translators
  12. Frequently asked questions

If you’ve already decided that you want to attend the Canton Fair but you don’t want to worry about organizing your trip, we can suggest a trustworthy travel agency that will do it for you. Click here to contact us. [Read more…]

Alibaba VS Aliexpress: How to Import From China – The Complete Guide

- Written by SDC 130 Comments

How to import from China through Alibaba

Want to import from China? Learn how to source and vet the best Chinese suppliers and use the code SDC to get a 10% discount!

Alibaba VS Aliexpress: How to import from China – Index

  1. Alibaba.com key facts
  2. Aliexpress key facts
  3. Alibaba and Aliexpress comparison
  4. Summary

Do you dream of setting up your own online shop or import business? In both cases, the best way is to begin your research on the internet.

But how to get started?

I asked my friend and business partner Fredrik, who’s been helping Western companies import from China since 2009, to write this article for my website. Here is what he has to say!

Alibaba.com and Aliexpress.com are well known among importing businesses worldwide. Both websites are owned by the Alibaba Group, based in Hangzhou, China. The difference between the two websites can be hard to spot at a first glance, but they have two very different business models with different strengths and weaknesses. This article will help you choose which one to use.
[Read more…]

Canton Fair : A Guide to the Guangzhou’s Nightlife for Fairgoers

- Written by Maia Moore Leave a Comment

With the spring in Guangzhou comes a rise in temperatures and a rise in visitors to this beautiful metropolis in the South of China. As every spring and autumn, the largest import & export trade fair in the world, the Canton Fair, is taking place.

Over a course of three weeks, fairgoers can look for suppliers and look around. Not only does the Canton Fair provides a wide variety goods from foreign and local businesses, it also provides an influx of visitors seeking the latest products and an opportunity to explore this buzzing city.

It’s widely known that China is the place to come for entrepreneurs and gadget seekers. It may not be so widely known that Guangzhou in fact, is the source for a lot of goods on the market.

So it only makes sense that the Canton Fair would have emerged from this innovative city. Guangzhou is however, more than markets and production; at day’s end, the focus must shift from buying to living.

After a long day of maneuvering through the vastness of Canton Fair, one will be in the mood for perhaps two things: a stiff drink or a nap. The latter should be skipped because the night can offer up some enticing choices that’ll definitely make this business trip pleasurable. It would be a shame to come to China, down to Guangzhou, and not experience a different side of this metropolis. [Read more…]

Doing business with China: My favorite 10 books and blogs

- Written by SDC 2 Comments

Business with China

Want to import from China? Learn how to source and vet the best Chinese suppliers and use the code SDC to get a 10% discount!

If you head to Amazon.com you’ll find at least twenty books on “doing business in China” and related topics such as “import from China” or “export to Asia”. Also, there are a lot of blogs and websites that focus on the same topic.

The list that you’ll find in this article is far from being complete: I’ll only talk about books and blogs that I read and appreciated. Let’s get started!

My favorite books on doing business with China

The Official Alibaba.com Success Guide

I’ll start with The Official Alibaba.com Success Guide, written by Brad and Debra Schepp, because it’s the most practical book I read, among the ones devoted to the supply chain niche. Alibaba.com is the biggest portal B2B (business to business), among the ones that aim at connecting Asian suppliers with importers that come from any part of the world. In theory, you can also exploit Alibaba.com in order to export your own products; however it’s certainly not the best portal, when it comes down to sell Western products in Asia. [Read more…]