Four Machinery Shows in China, and Which Airport to Fly Into

Four shows in China matter if you buy machines, and they are not interchangeable. Two are in Guangzhou and Shanghai in the autumn, one is in Beijing in the spring of odd years, and one is a general industrial fair that happens to be the easiest to combine with a factory tour.

Below: what each one is for, when it runs, which airport actually makes sense, and what we would do with each. Dates move; confirm with the organiser before booking.

1. Canton Fair, Guangzhou, October and April

140th session: 15 October - 4 November 2026, Pazhou Complex, three phases, about 1.55 million square metres. Phase 1 (15-19 October) is the machinery phase: industrial automation, electronics, vehicles, hardware and tools, building materials, energy.

Airport: Guangzhou Baiyun (CAN). Metro Line 3 to Tiyu Xilu, change to Line 8, off at Pazhou, about 50 minutes. The metro exits into the complex.

What it is for: breadth. If you need to see forty suppliers in one category, this is where they are. It is also the closest show to the factories: Dongguan is an hour from Pazhou, so a factory visit fits into the same trip.

Watch out: the halls are enormous and the queues are real. One category per day, and register for your badge before you fly. We wrote a separate piece on how to spend four days there.

2. bauma CHINA, Shanghai, November 2026

23-27 November 2026, and for the first time in two venues: Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center (SWEECC) 23-26 November, and Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) 24-27 November. Around 4,000 exhibitors across roughly 400,000 square metres. One badge works at both venues, with free shuttle buses between them.

Airport: Pudong (PVG) for international arrivals, Hongqiao (SHA) if you are connecting domestically. Both venues are in Pudong, so PVG is the shorter transfer, roughly 35 to 45 minutes by taxi, longer on the first morning.

What it is for: construction and earthmoving equipment, and the components that go into it. If your product is an excavator attachment, a hydraulic part or a wear item, this show is more concentrated than the Canton Fair.

3. CIMT, Beijing, April, odd years

CIMT is the machine tool show: metal cutting, forming, measuring, tooling and the control systems around them. It runs in Beijing in April of odd-numbered years, so the next edition is April 2027.

Airport: Capital (PEK) or Daxing (PKX). Check which one your flight uses before you book a hotel; they are an hour apart by road.

What it is for: if you are buying a machine tool rather than a machine, this is the show where the technical people are. Also the show where a serious buyer can compare spindle accuracy claims in one afternoon.

4. CIIF, Shanghai, September

The China International Industry Fair runs in Shanghai in September and covers industrial automation, robotics, new energy, numerical control and information technology. It is broader than a machine tool show and less consumer-facing than the Canton Fair.

Airport: PVG or SHA, both workable; the venue is in the Hongqiao area.

What it is for: automation and components, and the easiest of the four to combine with a factory tour in Jiangsu or Zhejiang, both of which are within two hours by high-speed rail.

Which airport for which factory cluster

CAN, Guangzhou. Dongguan, Shenzhen, Foshan, Huizhou, Zhongshan. Machinery, hardware, lighting, furniture, electronics assembly. One to two hours by car between factories, which is why a two-day factory tour here is realistic.

PVG or SHA, Shanghai. Suzhou, Wuxi, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Nantong. Precision parts, electrical components, textiles, packaging. High-speed rail beats driving for most of these.

PEK or PKX, Beijing. Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong. Heavy industry, chemicals, some machine tools. Distances are larger; plan a full day per factory, not two factories per day.

Three questions before you book

“Can I do two shows in one trip?” Sometimes. Canton Fair and bauma CHINA are five weeks apart, so no. CIIF in September and the Canton Fair in October are close enough to combine, and both are worth it if you buy automation components. Two shows in one week is a waste of one of them.

“Do I need an agent at the show, or can I just walk?” If you know exactly what you want and can read a specification, walk. If you need someone to ask the uncomfortable questions, translate the technical ones, and remember which supplier said what, take someone. We do both, and we will tell you which one you need after we see the list.

“What if the show is not the right place for my product?” Then it is not. Every show has categories it serves badly. Send us the product first; if a factory visit is a better use of your week than a hall pass, we will say so. That conversation is free, and so is the sourcing itself, up to the point where you ask us to place an order. The details are in our FAQ and customer Q&A.