For a first China sourcing trip, prepare four things before anything else: a valid entry route (30-day visa-free or a business visa), a payment stack (Alipay + WeChat Pay with an international card, plus USD cash), a connectivity plan (a roaming eSIM that routes around the Great Firewall), and an on-the-floor capture kit so you don't come home with 800 unlabelled photos. The rest of this checklist is grouped by category so you can tick it off the week before you fly.
A sourcing trip is not a holiday with meetings bolted on. Every hour on the Canton Fair floor or in the Yiwu market costs you flights, hotel and jet lag, so the goal is to arrive already able to work: paying, connecting, capturing and shipping without fighting logistics. Below is the exact checklist I run before every trip.
Documents and entry
Sort this first — it gates the flights.
- Passport valid at least 6 months beyond your arrival date, with two blank pages.
- Entry route. As of 2026, citizens of ~50 countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK, Canada and more) can enter visa-free for up to 30 days for business or tourism; China extended this unilateral policy through December 31, 2026 (China Briefing, VisasNews). If you're outside that list, apply for an M (business) visa — a Canton Fair invitation letter or badge helps.
- Transit alternative. If you're routing through China to a third country, the 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit covers 57 nationalities through 65 ports including Guangzhou (Chinese Embassy).
- Canton Fair buyer badge, pre-registered online (bring the QR code and a passport photo) — registering on-site burns half a morning.
- Printed hotel confirmation, return flight and invitation letters. Immigration and some hotels still ask for paper.
- Insurance card / policy number (see Health below) and a photo of everything above stored offline on your phone.
Money: cards, cash and mobile payments
China is functionally cashless, but as a foreigner you need all three layers.
- Alipay and WeChat Pay, installed and verified before you fly. Both now accept international Visa/Mastercard after passport verification; setup takes 10–30 minutes and needs your home phone number (RealChinaTrip 2026 guide). Verified foreign users have had single-transaction limits raised to around $5,000 (YellowBirdTour). Set up both — some vendors take only one.
- Two physical cards from different networks, and tell your bank you're travelling so they don't freeze them.
- USD cash for supplier deposits, sample fees and taxis where an app fails. Small suppliers at Yiwu often prefer cash for samples.
- A little RMB from an ATM on arrival as a fallback.
- Note your reference currency and FX rate — you'll quote suppliers in USD or RMB and need to convert consistently when you compare back home.
Connectivity: eSIM, apps and the Great Firewall
This is where first-timers lose a day. Google, Gmail, WhatsApp, Instagram and most Western sites are blocked in mainland China, and switching SIMs does not fix it — the filtering is at the network level (China For Travelers).
- A roaming eSIM whose data exits through a foreign network is the reliable 2026 answer: Google, WhatsApp and Maps just work, no VPN needed (Saily). Install and test it before departure.
- A VPN as backup for hotel Wi-Fi and your laptop — but treat it as unreliable; enforcement tightened in 2026.
- WeChat, set up with a verified account — it's how suppliers will contact you afterwards. Add contacts by QR on the spot.
- A translation app that works offline (Google Translate offline pack or Pleco for Chinese). Download the offline Chinese pack before you leave.
- Baidu Maps or Apple Maps — Google Maps data is patchy in China.
- Fairloop or your capture tool, installed and tested offline — trade-show Wi-Fi collapses under thousands of people, and you cannot rely on it.
On-the-floor capture kit
The failure mode of a first trip is 800 photos you can't tell apart a week later. Fix it with kit and a method.
- Phone with a good camera and plenty of free storage; clear old photos before you go.
- A 10,000+ mAh power bank (airline-legal, under 100 Wh) and cables — you'll shoot photos and scan cards all day.
- Business cards, 100+, printed double-sided in English and Chinese. This is non-negotiable; card exchange is the handshake, and running out signals you're not serious.
- A capture method, not a camera roll. For each product capture the photo plus the quoted price, MOQ (minimum order quantity), and which supplier in one record — a tool like Fairloop does this in under 15 seconds per item so the data survives the trip.
- A small notebook and pens for booth numbers and side-notes when your hands are full.
- Comfortable, broken-in shoes — the Canton Fair complex is ~1.55 million m² and you will walk 15–20 km a day.
- A light daypack, refillable water bottle, snacks, and hand sanitiser.
Samples: collecting and shipping
Samples are the point of the trip, and they're where costs and customs surprises hide.
- Foldable duffel or extra soft bag in your luggage for the samples you'll carry back.
- Zip-lock bags and a marker to tag each sample with the supplier name and your product reference on the spot.
- A photo of each sample next to its supplier's card so you can reconcile them later.
- A shipping plan. Small samples can go in checked luggage; bulk or heavy sets need a consolidator/forwarder. Get quotes before you commit, and keep every invoice for customs.
- HS codes (the customs classification for each product type) noted early — they drive your duty and clearance. See our companion guide on handling and shipping samples from China.
Health, comfort and admin
- Travel insurance with medical cover, and the policy number saved offline.
- A small medical kit: any prescription meds (in original packaging with a copy of the prescription), painkillers, rehydration salts, plasters, and something for stomach upset.
- Universal power adapter — China uses types A, C and I, 220 V.
- Copies of key contacts (hotel, forwarder, embassy) written on paper in case your phone dies.
The packing table
Weight and carry-on rules decide what makes the cut. Here's the quick reference.
| Item | Carry-on or hold | Why it matters | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passport + printed docs | Carry-on | Entry gate; irreplaceable | Essential |
| Phone + charger | Carry-on | Capture + payments + maps | Essential |
| Power bank (<100 Wh) | Carry-on only (airline rule) | All-day capture | Essential |
| Business cards (100+) | Carry-on | The handshake of every booth | Essential |
| 2 payment cards + USD cash | Carry-on (split across bags) | Deposits, samples, fallback | Essential |
| Roaming eSIM (pre-installed) | On phone | Beats the Great Firewall | Essential |
| Comfortable shoes | Worn / hold | 15–20 km/day of floor | Essential |
| Foldable sample bag | Hold | Carry samples home | High |
| Zip-locks + marker | Either | Tag samples on the spot | High |
| Universal adapter | Carry-on | Type A/C/I, 220 V | High |
| Medical kit + insurance | Carry-on | Health + admin | High |
| VPN (laptop) | On device | Hotel Wi-Fi backup | Medium |
| Notebook + pens | Carry-on | Booth numbers, notes | Medium |
FAQ
Do I need a visa for a China sourcing trip in 2026?
If you hold a passport from one of the ~50 countries on China's unilateral visa-free list — including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and Canada — you can enter for up to 30 days for business without a visa, a policy extended through December 31, 2026. Everyone else needs an M (business) visa, for which a Canton Fair invitation letter helps.
Can foreigners use Alipay and WeChat Pay in China?
Yes. As of 2026 both apps accept international Visa and Mastercard after you verify your passport in-app, with no restrictive country list for most travellers. Set them up and link a card before you fly — it takes 10–30 minutes and needs your home phone number. Keep USD cash as a fallback for small suppliers and taxis.
Will WhatsApp and Google work in China?
Not on a normal connection — they're blocked by the Great Firewall, and swapping to a local SIM doesn't help. The reliable 2026 fix is a roaming eSIM whose data exits through a foreign network, so Google, WhatsApp and Maps work without a VPN. Keep a VPN as backup for your laptop and download WeChat, which works locally.
How many business cards should I bring?
At least 100 for a multi-day fair, printed double-sided in English and Chinese. Card exchange opens almost every conversation at a Chinese booth, and running out mid-fair reads as unprofessional. Carry them somewhere accessible and collect the supplier's card for every product you capture, so you can match photos to sources later.
How do I avoid coming home with unusable photos?
Capture structured records, not a camera roll. For each product, save the photo together with the quoted price, MOQ and the supplier in one entry, on the spot. Field-sourcing tools like Fairloop do this offline in under 15 seconds per item, so when you get home the data — not just images — is ready to compare.
Bring it together
A first sourcing trip rewards preparation over improvisation: sort the visa, the payment stack and the eSIM before you fly, and carry a capture method rather than trusting your memory. That's exactly the gap Fairloop closes — capturing each product with its price, MOQ and supplier offline, so you land home with clean data to compare, cost and load into a container. Plan the rest of the trip with our China sourcing trip planner.