Lecong or Longjiang? Where Chinese homeowners browse — and where they actually order

Field notes · Foshan districts

By the Source Foshan sourcing team · Published 1 October 2026 · Based on two Xiaohongshu buying-trip diaries (January and August 2026) and our supplier routes

Use Lecong to calibrate — see the originals, the price range and the styles — and Longjiang to specify and order from factory showrooms, especially for upholstery. The move from one to the other is a move from a retail price to a written specification.

How we wrote this (updated with comment threads): we read two detailed trip diaries by Chinese homeowners on Xiaohongshu (23 September 2026) and paraphrased what they reported. Shop names are theirs; lead times and minimums are what they were told and will vary.

What is the difference between Lecong and Longjiang?

Lecong is Foshan’s retail furniture strip; Longjiang is its manufacturing town, strongest in upholstery. Lecong’s malls run along one road — from the import halls to trade-style markets — and they show you everything. Longjiang is where many of the sofas and beds are made, and where factory showrooms sell directly.

What did buyers find in Lecong?

Range, originals and high minimums. A buyer from Chongqing spent four days on soft furnishings. The import floor of Lecong’s largest mall had brand stores and multi-brand galleries — Poliform, Baxter, Fendi Casa, Armani/Casa — but required an appointment, did not allow photos, and quoted non-stock orders from about RMB 200,000 with roughly eight months’ lead time. Their verdict: worth it if you have never seen the originals; skippable if you have.

Independent showrooms nearby were more practical: original and adapted mid-century designs, delivery in 10–15 days on stock, room for a discount, and some with fixed packages (eight pieces for RMB 18,000 or 29,000 at one store).

Why do buyers end up ordering in Longjiang?

Because the factory can tell you what is inside the piece — and write it down. A Shenzhen buyer’s two-day diary is explicit: day one in Lecong to build a sense of the market, day two in Longjiang where the real ordering happened. At the last showroom of the trip, the factory specified which leather went on which part of each sofa and which timber went into the frame, and put all of it into the order. It also had its own tanning workshop. The buyer placed almost all the large pieces there and estimates a clear saving against comparable quality in the big Lecong mall.

What does the comment section add?

The replies turn the diaries into a checklist.

• Book ahead. Under the two-day diary, a reader asks whether the Longjiang showrooms need appointments; the author booked every one and recommends it, through each showroom’s official social account.
• Don’t order just before Chinese New Year. Under the four-day diary, the most-liked comment warns about a shop that took payment and never shipped; a reply says they worried about ordering before the holiday in case sellers disappeared, and another found their Foshan shop gone after the break.
• “Is it really cheaper?” The diary author’s answer to a reader: the good-looking pieces are not cheap; the advantage is the range. Another reader’s three-word summary of the long post: “not cheap at all.”
• Stock or made-to-order? Asked whether the Longjiang showrooms carry stock, the author says most do — they all have showrooms you can walk.

A timing rule the diaries imply

Most factories stop for two to four weeks around Chinese New Year, and orders placed in the six weeks before it are the ones most likely to slip. If your deadline is in March or April, order by November or early December — or plan production to start after the holiday.

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