Your written plan

Hello,

I have treated the three things you flagged as decisions, not as a generic checklist. The first decision is the entry route. That controls which arrival point makes sense. The fair registration comes next, because the invitation is issued through the fair’s own system. The phone, hotel and tickets should be prepared before you fly. The factory work starts on paper before anyone goes to Dongguan.

Here is the plan I would work from with you.

1. Your entry route

A British passport by itself is not enough information for me to choose the route in a responsible way. I would check which entry route your passport and exact itinerary actually qualify for: a visa, visa-free entry, or the 240-hour transit rule. I would then set out exactly which documents that route needs. I would not tell you to apply for a visa, or rely on visa-free entry or transit, until that match has been made against the trip you are actually taking.

This distinction also matters to the invitation question. The Canton Fair invitation belongs to the fair registration process, and we do not issue the invitation or the visa. The useful order is therefore: settle the correct entry route, list the documents for that route, and use the official fair route for the fair invitation.

2. Where to enter

I would not give Hong Kong or Guangzhou a blanket “best” label. The answer should follow the entry route above and the tickets you can actually book against your passport. If the chosen itinerary enters through a Hong Kong–Shenzhen border, I would write that border into the document check. If it enters at Guangzhou airport, I would write the airport into the same check. The final choice should be the one that fits the confirmed entry route and the order of the fair and Dongguan visits, not the one that sounds simpler in a general travel article.

Whichever route you choose, flights, high-speed rail and intercity transfers must be booked against your passport. China is real-name; a ticket in a slightly wrong name is not a ticket. I would copy the passport name into every booking rather than retyping it from memory.

3. Canton Fair

Use the official Buyer E-Service Tool for registration. The official invitation letter is free, is issued by the fair, and approval normally takes 3 to 5 working days. We walk you through that route; we do not issue the invitation ourselves.

The fair has three phases: Phase One, Phase Two and Phase Three. Before anything is booked around the fair, I would check which phase the product you are sourcing is actually in. Your example request says Phase One, but I would still match the product to the official phase listing so you do not fly in during the wrong week. I would not guess a product category from a short description.

Prepare what the badge desk will want from you: a passport valid 6 months or more, a business card, your company registration certificate, and a 2-inch colour ID photograph. Keep those items together with the registration result rather than treating the online approval as the end of the process.

At the fair, the work can include badge collection, deciding which halls are worth your time, all-day interpreting, specifications and quotes written down as you go, and a supplier comparison table you can still read a month later. The point of the notes is to stop several conversations turning into one blurred memory after the visit.

4. Before you fly

Send the exact bank card you plan to use, not just the bank name. I would check whether that specific card will bind to Alipay or WeChat Pay and prepare for real-name verification to stall on a foreign passport instead of clearing instantly the way it does for a Chinese ID. I would not promise that a card works before that specific check. On arrival, Alipay or WeChat Pay can be bound to your own card and tested on a real purchase before you leave the airport.

For connectivity, choose between an eSIM and a local SIM based on what can be set up before you fly. A local SIM must be registered in person with your passport; it cannot be completed remotely.

Book a hotel that is actually permitted to register foreign guests. Small and family-run hotels often are not, and can turn a foreign guest away at the desk after arrival. If you stay in an apartment or a friend’s home instead, registration at the local police station is required within 24 hours of arrival and the fine reaches ¥2,000. Hotels do that registration automatically; private addresses do not.

Use the passport-name rule for every flight, high-speed rail and intercity transfer. Keep the ambulance number 120 in the trip notes as well. Chinese public hospitals charge per service up front and do not bill foreign insurers, so if a hospital visit becomes necessary, collect the paperwork the insurer will ask for.

5. The two factories

Do not begin with the factory floor. Begin with the company on paper. For each supplier, check the legal name on the business licence against the party you have been emailing, the registered capital against the scale the company claims, the business scope, and whether the company holds export rights at all.

Only after that paper check should the visit move to the floor. At each factory, look at the production line, equipment, work in progress and warehouse, with photographs and video. Keep the two suppliers separate in the written notes so the evidence from one is not accidentally attached to the other.

During negotiation, we translate and take notes. We do not decide for you and take no commission from the factory. If you later want a pre-shipment check, it is done at the warehouse against your own checklist before you release the balance: count, model, packaging, labelling, photographs and video.

6. What it costs

For the scope described above, these are the published service lines I would put into the quote:

Fair badges, tickets, hotels, transport, meals and factory samples are your own cost, at the real price, with nothing added on top. This quote is for Guangzhou and Dongguan, inside our stated service area.

7. What we will not do

We do not issue invitation letters, visas or any official document — we walk you through the free official route instead. We do not give legal or tax advice. We do not write contracts. We do not issue certified third-party inspection reports; for those we tell you which firm to hire. We never hold or exchange your money.

That means the plan can organize the official invitation route and the entry-route decision, but it cannot replace either authority. The factory visit can document what is on the floor, but it is not a certified third-party inspection report. The decisions remain yours; our role is to make the steps, evidence, costs and boundaries clear.