Industry Clusters in China: Belts and Specialised Towns for Business Visits

Chinese manufacturing is clustered. The same product, the same suppliers and the same sub-suppliers sit within a few hours of one another, which is why an industry tour planned around a cluster teaches more than a list of single factories. Four regions hold most of it, and below them are towns that each dominate one product.

Four Regions

The four regions

Region	Leading industries	Core cities	What it means for a visit
Pearl River Delta	Electronics, home appliances, hardware, toys, garments	Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan, Zhongshan	Shenzhen for design and prototyping, Dongguan for moulding and assembly, Foshan for ceramics and appliances, Zhongshan for lighting and hardware.
Yangtze River Delta	Autos and parts, industrial equipment, textiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals	Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Ningbo, with Shanghai as the port and finance layer	Suzhou and Wuxi for precision manufacturing and auto parts, Changzhou for equipment and new-energy materials, Ningbo for the port, stationery and mouldings.
Bohai Rim	Steel, heavy equipment, energy equipment	Tangshan, Qingdao, Tianjin	Tangshan for steel, Qingdao for home appliances and rail equipment, Tianjin for aerospace and petrochemicals.
Chengdu–Chongqing	Electronics contract manufacturing, autos, inland logistics	Chengdu, Chongqing	Chengdu for electronics assembly and the inland air-freight hub, Chongqing for autos and the river port.

The full map, with figures and sources, is on What China Makes, and Where. For electronics the Pearl River Delta is the opening stop; for textiles the Yangtze River Delta; for heavy equipment the Bohai Rim. Plan by cluster, not by country: one category, one cluster, one week.

Nine Specialised Towns

Nine specialised towns

Town	Known for	City page	Visits
Zhuji (Zhejiang)	socks	Shaoxing	Usually arrangeable — contact PreeChina to confirm and book.
Danyang (Jiangsu)	lenses and spectacles	Zhenjiang	Usually arrangeable — contact PreeChina to confirm and book.
Xuchang (Henan)	wigs	Xuchang	Usually arrangeable — contact PreeChina to confirm and book.
Jinjiang (Fujian)	athletic shoes	Quanzhou	Usually arrangeable — contact PreeChina to confirm and book.
Keqiao (Zhejiang)	fabric trade	Shaoxing	Usually arrangeable — contact PreeChina to confirm and book.
Foshan (Guangdong)	ceramic tile and home appliances	Foshan	Usually arrangeable — contact PreeChina to confirm and book.
Yongkang (Zhejiang)	doors and hardware	Jinhua	Usually arrangeable — contact PreeChina to confirm and book.
Nankang (Jiangxi)	solid-wood furniture	Ganzhou	Usually arrangeable — contact PreeChina to confirm and book.
Caoxian (Shandong)	hanfu, traditional Chinese dress	—	Usually arrangeable — contact PreeChina to confirm and book.

A single town can dominate a single product category, and a visit to the town covers the whole category. Which towns are visitable, in which season and for how many people differs from site to site. Contact PreeChina to confirm which clusters are visitable for the group and the dates.

Wholesale Markets

Markets at the end of the belt

Yiwu: the international trade city for small commodities, with a foreign buyers' desk.
Guangzhou: garment wholesale and the fabric district, with factories an hour away.
Shenzhen: Huaqiangbei, the electronics market where a stall is a glass counter and also a company.
Hangzhou: the Sijiqing wholesale market.

A specialised wholesale market allows small quantities to be bought, sometimes a single carton, which a factory will not. The hours differ by market, so a visit is timed to the market. See Chinese markets and shopping in China.

A Belt Is an Area

Plan the area, not the pin

A cluster is an area. Sites sit in different towns and districts, and the distance between them decides how many can be seen in a day. A programme is drawn after the product and the purpose are known, not before. A large plant usually does not receive a walk-in foreign visitor; what can be arranged is mostly the small and medium factories in the belt, the specialised markets and the exhibition halls of industrial parks.

Background Reading

Background reading on this site

What China Makes, and Where. The cluster map: which region and which town makes which product, and what is visitable.
Chinese markets. Why a market is a time and not a place, and what the wholesale hall looks like.
Shopping in China. The wholesale floor, Huaqiangbei, the Guangzhou supply chain and the factory towns.
Getting around China. Distance is measured in hours: how to move between clusters.
China Now. The contemporary industrial landscape, from robots to electric vehicles.

Limits

Who this is not for

A buyer looking for a sector not listed here. Ask: the list is where PreeChina has started, not where it stops.
A group that wants to see the research lines of a well-known maker. See access and confidentiality.

Places and Routes

Cities, provinces and routes on this site

Each cluster sits in a province. These are the provinces and cities named on this page, with the routes that connect the largest clusters.

Cities: Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Ningbo, Shaoxing, Yiwu, Jinhua, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan, Zhongshan, Quanzhou, Qingdao, Tianjin, Tangshan, Xuchang, Ganzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing.
Provinces: Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Fujian, Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Chongqing. All regions are on the province map.

Routes and day trips that fit between these cities, from the experience guides:

Plan a Business Group Visit with PreeChina

Send the nationality, the industry, the purpose of the trip, the group size and the dates, and PreeChina replies to set up a 30-minute call. Nothing is booked until a priced itinerary is agreed.

Request a Briefing

Reviewed October 2026. Programme details are confirmed in writing for each group.