China Furniture Fairs: Dates, Cities and How to Plan a Sourcing Trip

Five fairs cover almost everything an overseas furniture buyer needs: CIFF Guangzhou for breadth in March, CIFF Shanghai for design-led ranges in September, the Canton Fair’s second phase for volume export goods in April and October, the Dongguan 3F fair for export-grade home and hospitality factories, and Shenzhen Creative Week for design and custom-home brands. The Longjiang fairs in Foshan add the sofa and materials cluster at factory level. Dates below were checked against each organiser’s site on 18 September 2026 and are updated yearly; where an edition is not yet announced, the typical timing is given.

For a first visit, CIFF Guangzhou is the default: two phases in one venue 40–60 minutes from Foshan, home furniture first and office and contract ten days later. Its organiser also runs the September Shanghai edition. The Canton Fair is not a furniture fair as such, but its second phase has a large furniture section within a general export show and suits importers who buy furniture alongside ceramics, housewares or garden products. How these fairs sit within China’s clusters and supplier types is explained in the China furniture industry overview.

The calendar repeats each year with only small shifts in dates, so you can plan a year ahead and confirm exact dates when organisers publish them, usually 6–9 months out. Two planning constraints sit alongside the fairs: the Chinese New Year shutdown, which falls on 6 February in 2027 and closes factories for roughly three weeks, and the National Day holiday on 1–7 October, one week before the Canton Fair opens.

The practical consequence is that a March trip covers the most ground, an October trip suits importers who buy mixed export goods, and any month works if your main aim is to see stock and place orders in Foshan’s showrooms. The Foshan furniture markets guide explains the districts and malls that stay open when the fair halls are empty.

Check your visa position first, pre-register with each organiser second, and pack a specification file third. China’s entry rules for business visitors are more open than they were, but they differ sharply by passport, and the current visa-free scheme has a published end date.

Under the unilateral visa-free policy in force at the time of writing, citizens of 50 countries may enter China without a visa for up to 30 days for business, tourism, family visits, exchanges or transit. The list includes most European Union states, the United Kingdom and Canada (both added on 17 February 2026), Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Saudi Arabia and others. The policy is confirmed only until 31 December 2026; an extension is expected to be reviewed but had not been announced as of September 2026. Citizens of the United States and India are not on the list. They can use the 240-hour visa-free transit policy, which covers 55 countries at 65 ports including Guangzhou and permits movement within Guangdong, provided they hold an onward ticket to a third country or region and leave within 240 hours, or apply for an M (business) visa. Separate mutual exemptions cover Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei. Confirm the rules for your passport with the Chinese embassy or the National Immigration Administration before booking.

• Pre-register online with each organiser as a trade visitor, using your passport details and company information; collect your badge on site with your passport. Several fairs waive fees for pre-registered overseas buyers and charge walk-ins.
• Install WeChat before you fly and set up WeChat Pay or Alipay with a foreign Visa or Mastercard; every supplier follow-up happens on WeChat.
• Bring 100 business cards; exhibitors still exchange them and scan your WeChat QR code alongside.
• Carry a specification file on your phone: reference photos, dimensions, quantities, target prices, fabric and finish preferences, and your delivery address for freight estimates.
• Book hotels near the venue or in Foshan’s Chancheng district 6–8 weeks ahead for March; Pazhou hotels sell out during CIFF and the Canton Fair.
• Bring a portable power bank, comfortable shoes and a printed hall plan; the Canton Fair Complex alone exceeds 1.5 million m² of exhibition space across its phases.

If you intend to buy in volume, prepare your negotiating position before the fair: know your landed cost target, your realistic order quantity and how you will consolidate several suppliers into one container. The price tiers and mixed-container mechanics are covered in the China furniture wholesale guide.

Spend one or two days at the fair in Guangzhou, Shenzhen or Dongguan, then two or three days in Foshan’s showrooms and factories, using the fair shortlist to decide which Foshan suppliers to see. Guangzhou’s Canton Fair Complex is 40–60 minutes by car from Lecong and Chancheng; Dongguan’s GDE venue in Houjie is 1–1.5 hours; Shenzhen is about two hours by high-speed rail and car.

A March itinerary that works: day one, CIFF Phase 1 at Pazhou for home furniture; day two, Longjiang fairs and factory showrooms in Foshan; day three, Lecong malls including the Louvre furniture centre; day four, factories for the shortlisted pieces plus one specialist area such as Nanzhuang tiles or Luocun lighting. For office and hospitality buyers, shift the trip ten days to catch CIFF Phase 2, and swap the Lecong day for the hospitality venues in Lecong and Longjiang. The town-by-town layout that makes such a route possible is on the Foshan districts page.

Base yourself in Foshan rather than Guangzhou if the fair is one or two days and the buying is three. Chancheng hotels are cheaper than Pazhou during fair weeks, and the reverse commute to the fair is quick. If you need a car and a bilingual guide, a local sourcing team can pre-book showroom and factory appointments along a single route, arrange airport pickup and take notes and supplier records; the guided Foshan buying visit is structured for exactly this, at USD 99 or USD 199 a day depending on group size.