As a Beijing-based reporter, I have grown accustomed to traveling to Shanghai every November to cover the China International Import Expo.
The National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), with its distinctive four-leaf clover shape, remains unchanged. Many of the company executives I meet are familiar faces. Some have attended the expo for years, bringing new products and investment plans, along with stories about how their businesses have evolved in the Chinese market.
But every trip to the CIIE also feels different. With the ninth CIIE due to open on Nov 5, preparations are entering their final stage. Exhibits are arriving, booths are taking shape and companies from around the world are getting ready for another six busy days in Shanghai.
Behind the scenes, Shanghai is also making arrangements for faster customs clearance, improved logistics services and business matchmaking activities to help exhibitors connect with potential Chinese partners.
One of the most interesting changes I have noticed over the years is that companies no longer talk about the CIIE simply as a place to display products.
In its early years, attention largely focused on products making their debut, from automated production lines and anticancer drugs to imported food and new consumer brands.
Such launches still matter. This year, Dow Inc plans a global debut for a water-based silicone pressure-sensitive adhesive, GE HealthCare will bring a new model of its interventional platform to the Chinese market and Kering SA will make the global debut of its latest eyewear products at the CIIE.
Again and again, executives have told me that products first displayed at the CIIE have later found their way into hospitals, factories, shopping malls and Chinese households. Some companies have gone further, turning their participation at the expo into local production, research and development and new investment.
That is probably the part of the CIIE story I find most revealing. The exhibition lasts only six days, but the partnerships and investment decisions it generates can have a lasting impact.
Boehringer Ingelheim, for example, has showcased nearly 50 innovative products and solutions at previous editions of the CIIE. Some have since moved from exhibition halls into the Chinese market. Perennial Holdings, a newcomer this year, has already opened China's first wholly foreign-owned tertiary general hospital in Tianjin and sees opportunities to serve patients from China and neighboring countries.
There are also the smaller stories that are easy to miss in a huge exhibition hall. Honey from Zambia, chili peppers from Rwanda and handmade wool carpets from Afghanistan may not attract the same crowds as a futuristic vehicle or a humanoid robot, but for producers from developing countries, reaching Chinese buyers can mean new orders, jobs and income back home.
Free exhibition space and streamlined customs procedures also make it easier for businesses from the least developed countries to participate and connect with Chinese buyers.
After covering trade for years, I have learned that openness is often easiest to understand through such details.
This year's CIIE takes place in the first year of China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), as the country continues to pursue high-standard opening-up and deeper international economic cooperation.
Three days from now, the doors of the exhibition center will open again. But amid the familiar rush, I will be looking for what is new — not only on the exhibition stands, but in what global companies are planning next in China. After eight editions, that may be the best reason to keep coming back.
