Mention Guangzhou in business circles and the Canton Trade Fair, held in the city twice a year, will quickly come to mind. Attracting tens of thousands of traders from all over the world, the event used to be held at Liuhua Complex in the city’s historic, but worse for wear, Yuexiu district.
In 2004, the China Import and Export Fair, as it is officially known, began moving some events to the Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center (GICEC) as different sections of the sprawling complex were completed. The move is now complete, with all events taking place in the largest exhibition and convention centre in Asia. Usually referred to simply as the Pazhou Complex, GICEC represents the new face of Guangzhou. An island in the middle of the Pearl River, Pazhou, part of Guangzhou’s new Central Business District, has been dubbed Zhujiang New City. It straddles the river, with upscale developments rising on both sides.
New district
Pazhou is home to the newly opened Westin Pazhou, which has direct access to the convention centre, and the Shangri-La, which is located near the banks of the river. On the other side of the river there are more of the city’s sophisticated new venues — the Guangdong Museum, the 88-storey Citic Tower, the Tianhe Sports Centre, a children’s palace, Guangzhou Lan Kwai Fong, the upscale Tianhe Hui shopping mall, the Guangzhou Opera House, and Canton Tower, the world’s tallest television tower and the city’s shining new symbol.
The museum and the tower, with their stunning architecture, have found quick favour with event organisers. Both are being used for product launches, fashion shows, and other events, big and small. Hennessey XO held a product launch at Canton Tower in November last year. “They built a glass box on the second floor,” says Janet Huang, executive sales manager of the Grand Hyatt Guangzhou, which is providing catering for the event. “We did a very high-quality VIP dinner with a Chinese and Western fusion menu. It was very innovative with XO incorporated into some of the dishes.”
Many of the city’s newest and best hotels — a Sheraton, Four Seasons, and Ritz-Carlton, for example — are located in the district. And these are proving popular with event organisers. The newly opened Hilton Guangzhou Tianhe Hotel is near Guangzhou East Railway Station, the city’s most important transport link to Hong Kong, which is just one of the reasons the hotel is hosting a good number of business events. With 504 rooms, venues totalling 1,900 sqm, and a pillarless banquet hall that measures 520 sqm, the Hilton had its soft opening in late August. Its grand opening will be in January.
When Lay’s, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, launched a new product line in September, it settled on the banquet hall at the new Hilton. The event — Lay’s Banquet, Stars’ Cooking’ — was held in the banquet hall with pop star Angela Cheung cooking ‘Salt and Pepper Shrimp Balls’ with the hotel’s Chef Hou. Anthony Lu, director of business development at Hilton Guangzhou Tianhe says the hotel has comprehensive facilities. “We offer nine conference venues including big banquet halls, which provide support to simultaneous group discussions and a number of conferences.”
Sofitel Guangzhou Sunrich is particularly proud of the themes it offers event organisers. “We make each of our meetings something special,” says Ben Yang, director of MICE at Sofitel. “For example, we give our tea breaks a theme, such as school days, candy life or chocolate. We also pay attention to teambuilding activities. Sometimes we teach our guests how to make traditional French pastries.”