Conceived from economic isolation in 1957, the Canton Fair has evolved over nearly seven decades into China’s premier gateway to international trade and a symbol of its economic opening.
Officials of the China Import and Export Fair, popularly known as the Canton Fair, said the just-concluded 139th edition attracted about 314,000 international buyers from 220 countries and regions.
Members of an international media delegation, including the News reporters, were told this during a guided tour of the Canton Fair Museum and Exhibition Hall in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
The museum showcases the history of the fair through archival photographs, historical documents and exhibits highlighting its contribution to China’s emergence as a major trading nation.
The tour was conducted by Yiyi Cai, International Marketing Manager of the Canton Fair, who traced the evolution of the fair from its establishment in 1957 to its current status as one of the world’s largest trade exhibitions.
Yiyi said the exhibition complex comprised 50 halls, each measuring about 10,000 square metres, with modern facilities and convenient transport links supporting large-scale international participation.
According to her, the Canton Fair was conceived at a time when the newly-founded People’s Republic of China faced economic blockades and had limited trade relations, mainly with the Soviet Union and a few allied countries.
She said that the Chinese central government established the fair, then known as the China Export Commodities Fair, to generate much-needed foreign exchange earnings through international trade.
“From the 1950s through the 1970s, Guangzhou served as China’s main source of foreign trade revenue, making the Canton Fair a strategic platform for the country’s economic development.”
She noted that while the fair was initially export-oriented, it had evolved into a two-way trading platform that also promoted imports into China.
Yiyi added that the fair’s international pavilion, at the moment, hosted exhibitors from countries including Germany, Italy and several African nations, reflecting its growing global reach.
NAN reports that the fair, launched in the spring of 1957, is held twice annually in Guangzhou during the spring and autumn seasons.
Yiyi said the fair had become a key platform for China’s opening-up policy, facilitating high-quality international trade and strengthening connections between domestic and international markets.
She noted that the fair was widely regarded as “China’s number one fair” and served as the propeller, barometer and weather vane of the country’s foreign trade.
According to her, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council have consistently attached great importance to the fair because of its role in supporting national development strategies.
“The fair has survived economic blockades, adapted through periods of reform and opening-up, and continued to evolve in line with China’s economic transformation.
“It has also remained committed to its original mission of serving national development while continuously reforming and reinventing itself to meet the changing demands of global trade,” Yiyi said.