It was warm – 24⁰C (75⁰F) - in Guangzhou, and dry, this March and it would have been sunny if it hadn’t been for the permanently heavy pall of pollution overhanging everything, which because of a lack of any kind of breeze, was allowed to stay put. Still, for the relatively few visitors who were escaping the early spring of northern latitudes, it meant coats and gloves and scarves – and even jackets could be left at home. Very pleasant.

The 37th China International Furniture Fair was held over four days at the very end of March, in 37 halls being just part of the Canton Fair Complex in Guangzhou. With a claimed 750,000 sq. m. of exhibition space and more than 3,500 exhibitors, even the most intrepid visitor couldn’t hope to see everything in the time available. Indeed, making the feat even less achievable, the show’s duration had been cut back by a day compared with 2015. This is the exhibition organisers’ curse; the final day of a five day show is quiet, so a day at the end is lopped off. Then, of course, the fourth day fails to attract the crowds, and everything is crammed into a shorter and shorter period. Neocon in Chicago fell into that trap a few years’ ago and now, from an original five day show, they have just three days which is, in reality, only a day and a half.

CIFF has something for most of the industry sectors and interest groups, including home furniture and components but the office sector is the best represented with a feet-aching eighteen halls. But even this is too much to cover properly in the time available if one wants to do more than walk swiftly round, casting a superficial glance at the exhibits.

The show was heaving on Day 1 but the crowds quickly found better things to do as the show went on, until it was really rather sparsely attended on the Thursday. By then, most of the exhibitors’ senior people had abandoned ship. Let’s hope the organisers don’t allow the days to be cut back still further.

Every exhibition appears, each year, to attract visitors from a specific region. This year’s CIFF was the turn of visitors from India who seemed very numerous, compared to those from Europe or North America. No one seemed really to know why, least of all those from India!

The vast majority of the exhibitors are Chinese companies with a small smattering from other Asian countries including Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia. Some attempt is made to cluster exhibitors with similar products together, thinking that it is helpful, but one result is that there is one group of six enormous halls, with nothing but aisle after aisle of office chairs. An aficionado’s dream, but pity the poor visitor whose interests are less specialised. While in a mood to complain, why can’t the show catalogue provide an alphabetical list of all exhibitors and their stand number to help the visitor find the company they are looking for - and when will the catering facilities be improved? Chinese food is great, but none of the dishes served in the massive, basement, 3,000 seat food hall was identifiable to a non-native.

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