Photo taken on October 15, 2023 shows the exhibition hall of the China Import and Export Fair, commonly known as the Canton Fair. The 134th session started on October 15 in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province. Photo: Li Hao/GT

"At the time of the first session of Canton Fair, we could not produce [passenger] cars by ourselves. It is really hard to imagine that car exports, especially exports of new-energy vehicles (NEVs), now become one of the pillars in China's foreign trade," 94-year-old Liang Yongsong, who attended the first session of Canton Fair in April 1957, told the Global Times on Saturday.

"We used to make phone calls and send telegrams to contact with our foreign customers. It is incredible that the Canton Fair now has its online website that provides a live chat platform that works 24/7," Liang said.

The 67-year-old Canton Fair, China's largest biannual trade fair, has become a reliable barometer of China's foreign trade. It has played a key role in advancing China's foreign trade and the economic and trade exchanges between China and the rest of the world. The history of Canton Fair is an epitome of the country's rapid growth. 

According to an IMF report, China has become the world's largest trading power and the center of the global supply chain. A negligible player in world trade only a few decades ago, China accounts for over 10 percent of world trade, more than any other single country. 

But the success of China's foreign trade is hard-won from generations of painstaking efforts and its steadfast drive for openness.

Hard-won success

"The US didn't allow us to use the US dollar. We had to pay and buy with British pounds or the Hong Kong dollar," Liang recalled the dilemma in foreign trade in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the beginning phase of the Canton Fair.

The whole country supported Guangzhou, the host city of Canton Fair in South China's Guangdong Province. People brought their latest products to the Canton Fair, hoping to obtain foreign currency, which will be used to import foreign products that China was unable to produce at that time, according to Liang.

Liang Yongsong poses for a photo before the exhibition hall of the first session of the Canton Fair held in April, 1957 in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province. Photo: courtesy of Liang Yongsong

Photo taken on October 14, 2023 shows the name badges and memorial badges for Canton Fair preserved by Liang Yongsong, participant of the first session of Canton Fair held in April, 1957, in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province. Photo: Li Hao/GT

The first session of the Canton Fair has become an important window for the country to break through Western economic blockade and political isolation.

At the recent sessions of the Canton Fair, a sea change has happened. 

Many participants believe that the Canton Fair is not only a "selling platform," but also a "distribution and interaction center" of global economic and trade information, the Global Times has learned.

"It's important to come to the Canton Fair to get deals done, but it's more important to look at industrial development trends. Chinese products and technologies are being updated and improved very fast and are now leading the world," Zhu Qiucheng, CEO of Ningbo New Oriental Electric Industrial Development, told the Global Times. Zhu and his father are frequent Canton Fair participants.

For example, foreign buyers were attracted by Chinese NEVs on display at the Canton Fair. New exhibition halls for NEVs were opened from the 133rd session, as NEV exports became a new driving force in the country's foreign trade. 

Photo: Li Hao/GT

Adil Mothammednur Tuhaye from Ethiopia was captivated by an intelligent electric autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV). 

"I don't have any plan to buy an AAV. I'm just impressed by China's high-tech products. My purchase plan is for Chinese electric vehicles, which are of good quality and cost-effective," Tuhaye told the Global Times. "We have a huge potential market back in Ethiopia."

China exported 825,000 NEVs in the first three quarters of 2023, up 110 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, China exported 3.388 million cars in total, up 60 percent year-on-year, according to statistics from China Association of Automobile Manufacturing.

"Things have changed now. It is the US that cannot live without trade with China, and the whole world now needs China-the global manufacturing hub," Liang said, with a proud smile.

Such success is seen in the development of the Canton Fair.

Only 1,223 buyers from 19 countries and regions came to the first session of the Canton Fair held in 1957. But now at the ongoing 134th session (October 15 to November 4), more than 100,000 buyers from 215 countries and regions have registered for the grand gathering, China Foreign Trade Centre, the organizer, told the Global Times.

The exhibition area has been expanded to 1.55 million square meters in 2023, from the 9,600 square meters in 1957. The export value skyrocketed from the first fair's $17.54 million to $21.69 billion at the 133rd session held in April and May 2023, according to official statistics.

Liang Yongsong shows weighing scale and abacus to Global Times reporters on October 14, 2023 in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province. The tools were used at the first session of the Canton Fair held in April, 1957. Photo: Li Hao/GT

 
Making a difference

Industrial progress contributes greatly to China's trade success, but more importantly, the country's determination and confidence to open up makes the great difference.

China has always been open to the whole world. Taking Guangzhou as an example, more than 1,000 years ago, Guangzhou was the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. More than 100 years ago, it was from there that the door to modern China's progress was opened. During the early stage of the PRC, Guangzhou started to host the Canton Fair. 

In order to promote trade balance, starting from the 101st fair in the spring of 2007, the Canton Fair began to set up an import exhibition area and officially changed its name to "China Import and Export Fair."

During recent years, China has spared no effort to open up and provide platforms to facilitate global trade, such as the Canton Fair, the upcoming China International Import Expo in November and the world's first supply chain-themed national expo - China International Supply Chain Expo, which will be held from November 28 to December 2.

Meanwhile, China has promoted multiple multilateral cooperation mechanism or partnerships to unite countries and regions so as to boost cooperation. For instance, the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has boosted trade cooperation in the past decade since it was launched in 2013.

Photo: Li Hao/GT

The expanding cooperation under the BRI framework is also seen in Canton Fair. The proportion of the buyers from BRI partner countries attending the Canton Fair has increased from 50.4 percent in 2013 to 58.1 percent in 2023.

The trade fair has attracted over 2,800 exhibitors from 70 BRI partner countries, accounting for 60 percent of the total number of import exhibitors, the Canton Fair organizer told the Global Times. Gross trade between China and BRI partner countries has expanded from 6.46 trillion yuan ($885 billion) in 2013 to 13.75 trillion yuan in 2022.