The 140th China Import and Export Fair, known as the Canton Fair, runs in Guangzhou from Oct. 15 to Nov. 4. As China's longest-running, largest and most comprehensive international trade event, the fair marks its 70th anniversary this year.
Across its three phases, more than 30,000 companies are exhibiting and about 340,000 overseas buyers are attending. From the "China Haul" trend on overseas social media to face-to-face deal-making on the show floor, the fair showcases both the breadth of China's manufacturing supply and the improving structure of its exports.
A Venezuelan YouTuber visiting the fair described the experience as a live version of "China Haul," marveling at how many compact, cutting-edge consumer tech products were on display. For visiting creators, the social media trend reflects the innovative energy of Chinese manufacturers responding to diversified demand.
British vlogger Jason visited the site of the first Canton Fair and traced its history through photographs and exhibitor badges in an anniversary exhibition. In 1957, the first session covered 9,600 square meters; today the exhibition area is about 1.55 million square meters, more than 160 times larger.
"This is not just an exhibition, but the story of a country's transformation. Seventy years ago, the Canton Fair opened a window connecting China and the world; today that window has become a door to innovation, technology and international trade," he said.
This year's fair set up a dedicated zone for new product launches for the first time, hosting more than 700 debut events, a record and up 15 percent from the previous session. The fair is expanding from a trading platform into a global launch pad for Chinese manufacturing and a matchmaking window for supply and demand.
Known as a barometer of China's foreign trade, the fair recorded 189,000 overseas buyers from 214 countries and regions in the first phase alone as of Oct. 19, up 13.3 percent year on year and a record high.
Analysts quoted by ING's global think tank noted that China's export basket is shifting toward higher-value electromechanical and tech-intensive goods, with new energy products, lithium batteries and industrial robots contributing a growing share of outbound shipments.
For international buyers, the message from Guangzhou is that China's export capacity is increasingly defined by innovation, product variety and rapid response to demand rather than price alone.
