Yes, you can visit factories in China, and most manufacturers welcome serious foreign buyers. What gets you through the gate is a warm introduction, a clear reason for the visit and someone on your side who speaks Chinese. Plan three visits a day, keep each day inside one district, and ask to see the production line before the showroom.
I'm Thomas Derksen. I have lived in China for more than twelve years, and with Asiabits I have run more than 50 factory and company tours for European leadership teams. Most weeks I walk a production floor in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou or Hangzhou with a group of visitors next to me.
The moment I watch for comes after the showroom. The guests have seen the video wall and the robot that waves at them. Then someone asks where the product is assembled. How the host answers that question tells you more about the company than any brochure. In my experience, a manufacturer that walks you straight onto the line has capacity to sell and little to hide.
Demand for these visits has flipped since COVID. On our podcast, a German deep tech investor who has worked in China since 2008 described how Western CEOs now ask companies like Xiaomi and Unitree for a slot to come and see them (Asiabits Podcast EP16). The best-known names get more requests than they can host, which is why preparation decides whether you see a line or a lobby.
Can foreigners visit factories in China in 2026?
Yes. Citizens of 45 countries, including 32 European countries, can enter China without a visa for up to 30 days for business, tourism, family visits or transit. Beijing has extended the scheme until December 31, 2026 (BNN Bloomberg). Check the list for your own passport before you book flights, because countries have been added during the year.
For the visit itself, the document that counts is a confirmed time slot from someone at the company who will meet you at the gate. Larger sites keep a visitor list with passport numbers, so send full names and passport details a few days ahead. Many companies ask visitors to sign a confidentiality agreement at reception and restrict photos on the line. I tell every group to expect both and to ask before taking out a phone.
How do you get a Chinese factory to say yes?
A warm introduction gets you in faster than any cold email. Chinese manufacturers answer people they know, or people their contacts vouch for. A WeChat message from someone they have done business with usually gets a reply the same day. An English email to the info address on the website often gets none.
The second thing a host wants to know is why you are coming. A request that says you want to look around earns you the showroom and a sales presentation. A request that names your use case and the decision you have to make earns you an engineer and often the line. Write the purpose in two sentences, have it translated into Chinese, and send it with the request.
Send the list of visitors with titles as well. Chinese hosts match seniority, so a delegation with a managing director on it is usually received by a vice president or the founder. If your group is mostly engineers, say so, and the host will bring its own engineers to the table.
We follow one rule of our own: we never bring a client to a manufacturer we have not visited ourselves first. If a company is new to us, someone from our team goes a day earlier. That way we know before the client lands whether there is a production line to see and who should be at the table.
Timing matters as much as the introduction. Avoid the weeks around Chinese New Year and the national holiday in the first week of October, when factories close or run with a skeleton crew. Trade fairs pull sales teams away too. The 140th Canton Fair opens in Guangzhou on October 15, and its first phase runs until October 19 (PR Newswire Asia). If your supplier exhibits there, meet them at the booth and book the factory for the week after. We described a full day on the fair floor in our Canton Fair sourcing guide.
Which cities in China are best for factory visits?
Choose the city by industry. In our database of 7,000+ robotics companies, 2,219 are based in China. Shenzhen leads with 572, followed by Beijing with 312 and Shanghai with 293. Suzhou has 122 and Hangzhou 110. Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou together hold 1,097 companies, almost half of the Chinese total.
Shenzhen is the hardware city: 150 of its robotics companies build cobots and industrial arms, and 97 make components. In Shanghai, service robots (63) and components (53) are the largest groups, and 31 companies build humanoids. Suzhou is a supplier town, with components as its biggest category. If you want to see a robot maker, its actuator supplier and its sensor supplier on the same day, Shenzhen or the corridor between Shanghai and Suzhou is where that works.
For a first trip I recommend one city in the south and one in the east. Shenzhen covers electronics and fast-moving hardware. Shanghai, combined with Suzhou or Hangzhou, covers larger manufacturers and the automotive supply chain. Hong Kong works as a base for Shenzhen, since the high-speed train from West Kowloon reaches Futian in about 14 minutes. If Shenzhen is your focus, our guide on where to find robotics startups in Shenzhen maps the districts.
How many factories can you visit in one day?
Three, if you want to learn something at each of them. A normal company visit with a showroom and a walk through production takes 90 minutes. A full visit where the management team presents takes two hours. Add the drive between sites and lunch, and a fourth visit turns every meeting into a rush.
We plan by district. Each day stays inside one cluster, with at most one long drive, and we put the companies that know us best at the start of the day. From April to October southern China is hot and humid, so we drive guests between buildings even when the map shows a short walk. A delegation in suits that arrives sweating struggles through the first meeting.
Tuo Liu, who builds an open-source robotics community in Shenzhen, gave founders a clear rule on our podcast: visit at least three factories in person and compare their prototypes before you choose (Asiabits Podcast EP8). Buyers can use the same rule. A single factory gives you an impression, and three give you a comparison.
What should you ask during a factory visit?
Start with ownership. Many showrooms belong to brands that buy their production elsewhere, so ask whether the line you are standing next to is theirs and how much of the product they make in-house. A clear answer here saves weeks of emails later.
Then ask where the factory's own suppliers sit. A plant inside a cluster can replace a part within days when something breaks, while one that ships components in from another province carries more risk, even with a lower quote. We explained why in our piece on why China is the world's factory.
Clarify every date. Joshua Woodard, who spent four years in Apple's camera team in Shenzhen, pointed out on our podcast that the Chinese term for delivery time, jiaoqi, usually means the day goods leave the factory, and many foreign buyers read it as the day they arrive (Asiabits Podcast EP12). Ask the question twice, in different words, and write the answer down.
Finally, ask for a reference customer in your industry whose site you could visit. The CEO of a European fashion retailer with stores in 47 countries came with three executives to Unitree's headquarters and spent the visit with the leadership and the humanoid team. A European automotive electronics supplier did five days and twelve visits with us, which ended in a joint proof of concept with a Chinese robot hand maker. Both groups arrived with a question from their own operations.
What can a factory visit not tell you?
A visit shows you one prepared day. The line may run differently the rest of the month, and a showroom demo says little about how a robot performs after a year in your plant. Use the visit to shortlist two suppliers, then follow up with samples and a quality audit.
The famous names are also the hardest to get into and often show visitors the least. In my experience, the component makers nobody in Europe has heard of teach a visiting team more about cost and lead times than the humanoid makers with viral videos. A good programme mixes both.
How Asiabits helps
Asiabits organizes private factory and robotics company visits in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou. We choose the companies around the decision you need to make, visit new ones ourselves before you arrive, chair the meetings in Mandarin and English, and stay involved after you fly home. Tell us what you want to see and we will tell you which visits are worth your day: factory tours and delegations in China.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a visa to visit a factory in China?
Citizens of 45 countries, including 32 European countries, can enter China visa-free for up to 30 days for business trips, and the scheme runs until December 31, 2026. Everyone else needs a business visa, usually with an invitation letter from the Chinese company. Check the current list for your passport before booking.
Can I visit a Chinese factory without an introduction?
You can try, but cold requests in English often go unanswered. A warm introduction through someone the factory knows, sent on WeChat in Chinese with a clear purpose, gets a faster reply and a better visit. Asiabits arranges these introductions for European companies.
How many factories can I visit in one day in China?
Three is a realistic number if you want time on the production line at each. A standard visit takes 90 minutes, a visit with a management presentation two hours. Keep each day inside one district to avoid long drives.
Can I take photos inside a Chinese factory?
Often only in the showroom. Many manufacturers restrict photos on the production line and ask visitors to sign a confidentiality agreement at reception. Ask your host before taking out your phone.
Which city in China is best for visiting factories?
It depends on your industry. Shenzhen is strongest for electronics, robotics hardware and components, with 572 robotics companies in the Asiabits database. Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou suit automotive suppliers and larger manufacturers.
Should I visit factories or a trade fair like the Canton Fair?
Both work best together. A trade fair lets you meet many suppliers in a few days, and a factory visit shows you whether the one you picked can deliver. Meet suppliers at the booth, then visit the shortlisted factories the following week.
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