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Finding Suppliers
Manufacturing in China is clustered by city and by product. These guides map the clusters and explain how to shortlist and vet suppliers.
- 01How to Write an RFQ Chinese Suppliers Will Actually AnswerSend a supplier enough to price the job in one message: what the product is (photo, link or sample), material and dimensions, the key specifications for its category, quantity per SKU, colour and size, destination country and Incoterm, required certifications and labelling, packaging and branding, sample needs, timeline and payment expectations. A greeting or "price?" alone rarely gets a usable answer, because suppliers triage many inbound messages and cannot quote without specs.7 min read
- 02Is My Chinese Supplier a Scam? 12 Patterns and the Checks That Catch ThemMost supplier fraud in China follows a handful of repeatable patterns: a changed bank account sent by email, a trading company posing as a factory, a deposit taken by a company about to close, a price far below market, a cloned website or Alibaba store, and a sample that does not match the bulk goods. Each has a cheap check: pay only to the account on the business licence confirmed by phone, verify the company on gsxt.gov.cn, see the production line live, inspect before the balance, and never let urgency skip a step. Recovery after payment is slow and uncertain, so prevention is the strategy.8 min read
- 03China's Biggest Wholesale Markets: What Each Sells and Which One to VisitChina's wholesale markets fall into two kinds: the general small-commodity market, which is Yiwu International Trade City with about 75,000 booths across five districts, and the specialised markets that sit inside a product cluster, such as Guangzhou for clothing and leather bags, Shenzhen Huaqiangbei for electronics, Keqiao for fabrics, Guzhen for lighting, Lecong for furniture, Haining for leather garments and Chenghai for toys. Choose by product: mixed small orders go to Yiwu; a single category goes to its specialised market, where prices are factory level and choice is deepest.6 min read
- 04China Sourcing Agent: What They Do, What They Cost and When You Need OneA China sourcing agent is a person or company in China that finds suppliers, negotiates in Chinese, follows production, arranges inspection and consolidates shipments on your behalf. Agents are paid by commission (published rates mostly 3–10% of goods value), a flat project fee, or a monthly retainer. You need one when you cannot visit, when your order mixes many small suppliers, or when you lack Chinese-speaking staff; you do not need one for a single large order from a verified factory you can manage yourself.8 min read
- 05Which City in China Makes What: Product-by-Product Sourcing IndexChina's manufacturing is organised by product cluster: one town or district makes most of the country's output of one thing. Socks come from Datang in Zhuji, eyeglass lenses from Danyang, decorative lighting from Guzhen, toys from Chenghai, hardware from Yongkang, small appliances from Cixi, furniture from Lecong in Foshan, electronics from Shenzhen, and small commodities of every kind from Yiwu. Start your search in the cluster for your product and you reach factories, not traders, with the lowest prices and the deepest supplier choice.6 min read
- 06How to Source Women's Clothing from China: Markets, MOQ, Samples and LabelsTo source women's clothing from China, choose between buying stock from wholesale markets (Guangzhou's Shahe and Liuhua areas, Yiwu's Huangyuan market) in packs of about five pieces per style, or ordering made-to-order from a factory with a minimum of roughly 100 to 300 pieces per style and colour. Get a size set as samples, agree a measurement chart in centimetres, inspect against a reference sample before the balance is paid, and plan labels for your market before production, because fiber content, origin and care labels are legal requirements.8 min read
- 07How to Check a Chinese Company's Business License (GSXT Lookup)To check a Chinese company's business license, ask for a clear copy of the license (营业执照) and the company's Chinese legal name, then search that name or its 18-character unified social credit code on China's official registry, the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (gsxt.gov.cn). Confirm the status is active, the business scope covers what the company claims to do, and the legal name matches the proforma invoice, the contract seal and the bank account you are asked to pay.8 min read
- 08China Manufacturing Hubs: Which City Makes What (Cluster Map)China's manufacturing is organized in product clusters, often a single town or county making one category. Key examples: Yiwu for small-commodity wholesale, Shenzhen for electronics, Chenghai (Shantou) for plastic toys, Datang (Zhuji) for socks, Danyang for eyeglass lenses, Cixi for small appliances, Yongkang for hardware, Wenzhou and Jinjiang for footwear, Zhili for children's clothing, Shiling (Guangzhou) for bags, Foshan for furniture, Dehua for ceramics and Anxi for rattan-iron crafts.6 min read
- 09Factory vs Trading Company in China: How to Tell and Which to UseCheck the supplier's business license on China's official enterprise registry: a factory's business scope (经营范围) includes production verbs such as 生产 (produce), 制造 (manufacture) or 加工 (process) for your product, while a trading company's scope lists only sales, wholesale or trade. Then confirm with a live video walk-through or third-party audit. Factories usually win on price and technical control; trading companies win on low MOQs, mixed orders and English-speaking service.7 min read
Key terms
- Factory audit
- An on-site assessment of a supplier's legal status, facilities, production capacity, quality system and sometimes social compliance, done before placing orders or periodically.
- Industrial cluster
- A city or town in China where many factories, component makers and suppliers of the same product category are concentrated, such as Shenzhen for electronics or Foshan for furniture.
- RFQ
- A written request that asks several suppliers to quote price, MOQ, lead time and terms against the same product specification, so their offers can be compared like for like.
- Trading company
- A company that buys products from factories and resells them to buyers, adding a margin and usually handling communication and export paperwork, without making the goods itself.
- Unified social credit code
- The 18-character national ID assigned to every Chinese company and organisation under standard GB 32100-2015, printed on its business licence and searchable in official registries.