The Power House of Commerce: Guangzhou, China

This is Guangzhou, China, formerly known as Canton — home to 13 million people. One of the three largest and most significant cities in modern China, Guangzhou is the economic engine of China, a major trading port, and host to many of the world’s corporate offices and most of China’s corporate headquarters.

In addition to the annual Canton Fair, the past few years have brought hundreds of furniture vendors to Guangzhou for the China International Furniture Fair (CIFF). CIFF is the reason 3D Office Furniture + Design ventured, for the first time, to China.

The Canton Tower is just one of dozens of impressive structures that pepper the carefully planned city of Guangzhou. At 1969 feet, this TV tower is the tallest structure in Guangzhou, taller than the Empire State Building and serves as a great vantage point to take in this ever growing city.

Productivity and economic progress is palpable in the albeit polluted air of Guangzhou. There is an overwhelming sense of movement — in the form of ubiquitous and massive construction projects; in the flow of people on foot, on bike, on moped, in cars, taxis, jitneys, on buses, and via a modern, efficient subway system; and in the transport of goods packed into trucks, carried on people’s backs, pushed on hand carts, or piled on to the backs of bicycles.

No matter what, one gets the sense that people are getting things done here!