Sharing the Canton Fair blog

Weekend in Phoenix City Hotel

Posted by Gerry Liu on September 24th, 2008

July 4, 2008

As their best agent, this is the second year Phoenix City Hotel invite us to enjoy their hotel.

This time they give us 5 Deluxe Suite for free.(last year is a big house with 5 rooms)

First, they arrange us to check in the rooms.

After put down our bags, hotel invite us to go to the litchi farm, pick litchi as you can for free!!!!!

Afternoon, we go to the litchi park in the Phoenix City Hotel, Hotel arrange a BBQ to us!! Great, I like BBQ

End, we back to our really deluxe rooms to play poker and chinese mahjong for the whole night.

Next day , Sunday, We have a really good sleep in this great hotel. We will see you next year!

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Guide to How to Find a Sourcing Agent

Posted by Gerry Liu on August 28th, 2008

Find and manage an overseas factory with a good sourcing agent

The original article is post By Elaine Grant in business.com http://www.business.com/guides/how-to-find-a-sourcing-agent-1210/

Are you looking for an overseas factory to manufacture your products? Rather than searching for a factory yourself – a task akin to the proverbial needle in a haystack, especially from afar — look for a good sourcing agent or sourcing company to do that work for you. A good sourcing agent, either in the U.S. or in country, can:

1. Locate factories that have equipment and talent that matches your needs.
2. Determine which factories or suppliers will meet deadlines and provide efficient service.
3. Negotiate good prices.
4. Place orders, handle currency issues and pay suppliers.
5. Inspect factories for quality and ethical practices.
6. In some cases, inspect your finished goods before they’re shipped to you.

Here’s what you need to know about choosing a sourcing agent:

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Visit trade shows

A good sourcing agent will have a deep understanding of your industry and of the country in which you want to do business. As a result, your industry’s trade shows may be the best places at which to locate a sourcing agent. Like the quality of products made by a colleague in the same industry? Ask him or her for sourcing agent recommendations.

I recommend: Find trade shows by industry or geography in the searchable online directories at biztradeshows.com or tsnn.com (registration required for the latter site). Global Sources Trade Show Center specializes in exhibitions for importers of Asian-made products.

Decision time: a U.S.-based, global, or in-country sourcing agent?

There are advantages and disadvantages to both domestic and in-country agents. A domestic sourcing agent may be larger and broader in scope – for instance, if you want to manufacture products in several countries, a domestic sourcing company with access to, say, factories in China and Vietnam may provide you with a single point of contact. On the other hand, local representatives can help small companies get started for relatively affordable prices; they’re often paid on commission, as opposed to larger domestic companies, which typically work on contract and expect a portion of the fee up front. In either case, ensure that representatives are fully bilingual.

I recommend: Visit Business-in-Asia for an excellent checklist written by an experienced sourcing consultant and Asian diplomat. The Outsourcing Network is one sourcing company with representatives in both Asia and the U.S. Global Sources maintains offices worldwide. To look for agents in specific countries, check out the trade promotion offices of those countries. Find a comprehensive list at Globus & NTDB.

Get the best prices

A good sourcing agent should get bids from several different factories for you. In addition, make sure that the agent doesn’t have financial ties to any particular factories. Also be aware that in some countries, sourcing agents receive commissions or kickbacks from the factories they choose; this practice can compromise their objectivity, to say the least.

I recommend: Global Sources produces multiple industry-specific sourcing magazines that can keep you up to date on Asian sources of, for instance, apparel and textiles or electronic components. Subscriptions cost about $75 annually. Visit the discussion forums on Alibaba.com to meet individual sourcing agents and representatives from small sourcing companies in China and to get advice on local customs such as kickbacks. Search for “importers” by product category on the Thomas Register. Get training or consulting on global sourcing from Bendorf Associates.

Maintain ethical practices

These days, it’s important to ensure that overseas factories aren’t employing underage workers or treating their employees poorly. You’ll need to inspect factories before you sign a contract, but you can also do business with sourcing agents who make a point of doing business responsibly.

I recommend: Search the sites of companies in your industry that have a reputation for ethical practices; some produce corporate responsibility reports in which you may be able to learn who their suppliers are. In the footwear business, for instance, Timberland adheres strongly to ethical practices. If you’re in the jewelry or gift business, check out Mercado Global, a nonprofit sourcing company dedicated to improving the lives of the women artisans who make products for their clients.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

Have a sourcing agent sign a non-disclosure agreement before you give him or her information about your new product.
Once he or she has signed an NDA, give the agent as much information as possible, including specifications, measurements, and drawings, about the product you want produced.
Once you’ve chosen a factory, start with a small product run and inspect it before it leaves the factory.
Once you’ve chosen a factory, start with a small product run and inspect it before it leaves the factory.

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A fantastic journey in Chimelong Paradise

Posted by Gerry Liu on August 4th, 2008

May 24, 2008

As we are the best travel agent of Rundu Hotel, hotel invite all of us to Chimelong Paradise.

We assambled at Rundu Hotel lobby, about 1 hour journey by bus, we arrive at Chimelong Paradise and star our revelries for a whole day.

Frist station : Vertical Coaster is called as king of coasters, 100 mitre means 30 floor. We were frightened when just looking other people playing. And after queued up with a long time ,it was our turn to screaming, most of us are girls, go gogo , never quit!!!!~~~

Next part: Big Pendulum!! Did you ever see such a big pendulum? It swing increasing rate, and you feel everything round and round, finally you may feel stand instability when come down.

After that we go to Rotating Trojan and find our happy childhood time.

Let’s see a specail movie: Dino Raider 4D theatre experience.

When you put on special glasses, you could feel you just go into a magical world ,everything show in the movie just like happening arround you.

We also look at a wonderful circus at night. You could found comedy ,fantasy and thriller in this circus.

We have a very funny time in Chimelong Paradise, and still hope to play more, but there were too much people that day, many games had to wait for a long time ,we couldn’t play all the games in paradise. If paradise can open 24 hours and we can play untill tried, that will be cool!!

Any way ,time to say good bye and end our fantastic journey, only on the way home we felt tried , hoped tonight could have a good dream……

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Find food in Canton

Posted by Gerry Liu on July 10th, 2008

When talk about food of Guangzhou ,we always heard one word:”Eating in Guangzhou”

Not only beacuse guangzhou traditional cuisine, but also beacuse you can find most the food style of world in Guangzhou.

With different ingredients, fine preparation, a light flavor and rich in variation, its color, scent and taste are superior, and it’s nutritionally-sound, too. The food industry in Guangzhou ranks among China’s top. To date, there are over 10,000 restaurants in the city, with seats for over 500,000.

There are also countless traditional and creative famous dishes, dim-sums and appetizers. Cantonese Food, one of the four major food styles in China, become eminent with the development of its unique history, culture, geography and technology. Cantonese food gathers the advantages of other food styles. There are various extractive materials and seasonings like birds, beasts, games, sea foods, wild vegetables. The cooking skill pays priority to light, fresh, clear, slippery, tender and nutrition, which also change with the seasons. The “morning tea”, which becomes popular all of China, has delicate and tasty dim sum.

Guang zhou flavor snack has large variety and diversity, such as the inexpensive and tasty radish cake, rice noodle, steamed zongzi (rice wrapped in leaves), fried river snail, cattle entrails, Shahe rice noodle, wonton with noodle, skinned milk, stewed stuff, boat porridge, jidi porridge and pot rice.

Guangzhou concentrates the dishes of all of China and world. You could find local food and food from outside, like Chaozhou food, Hakka food, Sichuan food, Shandong food, Hunan food and Beijing food etc. The tasty dish of the world are brought to Guangzhou, including the French raw oyster, Japanese sushi, sashimi, Thai potted fish and chicken claw, Korean BBQ, Indian fried curry chicken, Vietnamese grilled gold edge fish and cuisine from Nepal, Middle East, Italy, U.S.A. and South East Asia. Whatever local flavor, country snack and traditional cuisine are available in Guangzhou. All kinds of restaurants cover every street and commercial area, no matter it is a well known one or a snack bar.

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Travel to Hebao Island(Zhuhai City)

Posted by Gerry Liu on July 10th, 2008

May 2007

After Canton Fair our company arranged a collective travel to Hebao Island. We departed from Guangzhou to Zhuhai at a early morning, after 2 hours journey by bus, we arrived the shipside which can take a boat to Hebao Island. The boat ran fast and we just enjoyed the blue and wouderful sea on the way.

Here is a photo we took on the boat , boat was just fly on the sea!!!~~

After 20-30 minutes traveled on boat we finally arrived in Hebao Island. We could see the beautiful beache, and woo!!

Now we need to walk few minutes to our accomodation, let’s go ahead (beautiful beache please waiting for us ……) !

Look!! our lovely log cabin and beache.

The weather was very hot, just played a few minutes on the beache we couldn’t stop sweating, then only could stay in umbrage untill evenfall.

When evenfall ,we walked along the beache, and took a breathe. It felt really well when blowing sea breeze.

We had a big meat at night-BBQ, there had many kind of food, like meat, chicken, bread, shrimp and so on. We talking and laughing , had very happly time together. The wether of that day was really hot, even at night we can’t not bear stay in the log cabin, so we decided to draw out the matting and spread together on the beache, we play untill midnight and just sleep on the beache when tried. It is very specail and feel free that sleep on the beache, and waked up when the morning sun on us.

Although beache of Hebao Island is beautiful at day time, we can see sunshine on the sea. But I find it mysterious at night and show another charm to us.

Another mornigh after we waked up, it is the time we say good bye to this little island, we make a last photo with this lovely beache and go on the way home.

Then end a happly travel and left a wonderful memory on this island.

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Sharing the Canton Fair

Weekend in Phoenix City Hotel

Guide to How to Find a Sourcing Agent

Visit trade shows

Decision time: a U.S.-based, global, or in-country sourcing agent?

Get the best prices

Maintain ethical practices

A fantastic journey in Chimelong Paradise

Find food in Canton

Travel to Hebao Island(Zhuhai City)

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