Canton Fair Registration and Buyer Badge: Steps and Pick-Up

What you need to get a badge

Overseas buyers must show a Buyer Badge to enter the Canton Fair Complex. The organiser’s badge notice says you are eligible with any one of these:

• a foreign passport
• a Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents
• a Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents
• a Chinese passport plus an overseas permanent residence permit or visa

You must show the original document, plus a business card and your pre-registration QR code receipt. The badge is free and one badge works for several sessions. The organiser also issues a QR-code badge, and a new QR-code badge deactivates the old one automatically.

The latest English guide is the organiser’s Badge Guide for the 140th session (September 26, 2026), and the tables below follow it. Offices, hours and hotel lists change every session, and the guide for the 141st session is not out yet.

Step 1: Pre-register and get your QR code

The organiser recommends applying in advance and collecting the badge before you reach the complex.

1. Open the official buyer system. It has a desktop site linked from the Canton Fair website and a mobile version that needs JavaScript switched on.
2. Create an account and fill in your passport and company details. Enter the name exactly as it appears in your passport.
3. Submit the application and save the buyer QR code the system gives you.

If you also need an invitation letter for an M visa, read the invitation letter and M visa guide first. The letter is requested through the same buyer account.

Some buyers have trouble with this step. A first-time visitor on Reddit reported in April 2026 that an email from the fair arrived but the website was not working, so they could not sign up or verify the email. If that happens, try the mobile version, then write to info@cantonfair.org.cn or call (8620) 28-888-999 from outside mainland China (4000-888-999 inside it).

Step 2: Collect the badge

Holders of a foreign passport or a Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan travel permit have two ways to get the badge once they have a QR code:

Buyers with a Chinese passport and an overseas permanent residence permit go straight to a badge counter for document checks, and must use the offices at the complex.

Where to collect: outside the complex

For the 140th session, buyers with foreign passports or Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan permits could collect at these places before reaching the venue:

Each office has its own dates and hours, and the hotel list changes every session, so check the organiser’s current guide. For the 139th session in April 2026, Newsgd reported that Baiyun Airport also opened service centres in the international arrival areas of Terminals 2 and 3, open 24 hours, covering SIM cards, transport booking and exhibition support.

Where to collect: at the complex

Three registration offices at the complex are tied to Guangzhou Metro Line 8 and Line 11 exits, according to the 140th guide:

For the 140th session, Areas B and C opened on October 12, three days before the fair, from 09:00 to 18:00. The guide lists no night hours. The whole network is on the map in the Canton Fair metro guide. For the airport route, see Baiyun Airport terminals.

Badge rules to know

• Wear the badge visibly with the photo side facing out. Do not hide or reverse it.
• One person gets one valid badge per session. Reselling, lending, counterfeiting or altering a badge is banned.
• The badge is for entering the complex only. It is not ID or a guarantee for anything else.
• Lost badge: report to the Badge Service Center, then replace it free of charge.

Photo requirements

The organiser’s 140th badge guide shows the buyer system’s rules: a clear photo with the head centred, not tilted or turned sideways, and no hats, headscarves or tinted glasses, as a .jpg, .jpeg or .png file. You also upload an image of your passport’s information page.