The Canton Fair (officially the China Import and Export Fair) takes place twice a year, typically in spring (around April) and autumn (around October), in Guangzhou, China.

The Canton Fair Complex is enormous. It spans roughly 11.8 million square feet (about 272 acres), which is around 200 American football fields worth of space. Of that, about 3.6 million square feet (roughly 84 acres) is dedicated to indoor exhibition areas, and one of the main halls alone is about 1.7 million square feet (around 39 acres), which is nearly 30 football fields under one roof. The fair can host tens of thousands of exhibitors and hundreds of thousands of visitors across its run, so it can feel overwhelming if you do not have a plan (or a guide) to navigate it.

The event is usually organized into three phases, each running about five days, with a short break between phases. Each phase spotlights different product categories, for example:

• Phase 1: electronics and machinery

• Phase 2: building materials, home goods, and giftware

• Phase 3: fashion and textiles, toys, plus health and recreation

Our trip will be attending phases two and three.

The fair is a major showcase for new products and supplier capabilities. What you see depends on the phase you attend, but you should expect a constant stream of new launches, variations, and manufacturing options. In short: if it is a product category you can name, there is a good chance you will find suppliers for it there, along with plenty of options you did not even know existed.