Beijing Expat Show

The Beijing Expat Show

Anne Lin

Over 7800 participants visited the second Beijing Expat Show held at the China World Trade Centre from May 23-25, 2009.

The expo saw more than 150 firms showcase their wares to the expatriate community.

Office and Project Manager with World Events Agency, and an expatriate of 20 years, Telmo Freitas said that there are around 300,000 expatriates living and working in Beijing .

"These figure we have are from 2005 but we have had a big increase, especially over the last five years," he said.

Medical services, magazine and newspaper subscriptions and a plethora of international schools and educational goods were some of the products on display at the three day fair.

There are different reasons why companies participate in such a show, although Freitas thinks the increased competition is one of the more prominent reasons.

"What the exhibitors got out of the show really depended on the industry that they come from, but first and foremost, most of them are in the show to get known amongst the expatriates. Competition is increasing, for example in the education area we are seeing lots of new international schools opening up so they need to make their brand known to the international community, getting new clients etc."

"There are also lots of new companies getting to the expat show because when they first come to China, they like to target the expatriate community as it is much easier for them....they don't have to translate their marketing brochures into Mandarin, so basically we have a lot of new competitors coming and taking advantage of their marketing in their country to first try and get the expatriate people," Freitas said.

Indira Losada-Rodriguez who was working at one of the stalls said that she probably would have attended the show even if she wasn't working. "I attended for work, although as an expat I would be trying to attend one of these shows. The turnout compared to last year was not that good apparently... they say that perhaps because of the financial crisis or swine flu the show drew less of a crowd this year. But I probably would have also gone just to say hi to people I know," she added.

Her stall, AIESEC attended the expo because they knew that there would be plenty of international companies exhibiting. "AIESEC was actually targeting the companies and exhibitors themselves, [so that they could] see what AIESEC does and offers; which is seeking and offering placements for international interns who can work in the companies.

"Shows like this are aimed for anyone who has an interest (financial, personal) in foreigners that live in China. For the locals that were at the show, [I think] they go because they might be curious about the outside world," Losada-Rodriguez explained.

Beijing-born Chen Bo, was visiting the expo, said that he decided to come just to see what it was all about, said that he too has noticed the recent hike in foreigners calling this city home.

"I came back to Beijing from my studies abroad at the end of 2006 and saw that there was a lot less foreigners. The Olympics has definitely made Beijing and perhaps even China more multicultural."

Chen also predicts the number of travellers coming to China will only continue to rise. "In the next ten years, I think it is a sure thing that China will continue to experience a strong growth rate I mean just look at how it is doing during the current economic crisis. Chances are eventually many more people from all over the world will be interested in coming to live, work and study in China," he said.

From the inaugural Expat Show that was held in Shanghai in late 2007 to the first Beijing show in April 2008, Freitas believes that this is why there is a need for an expo of this nature and hopes to see it become an annual event.

"The idea is to have this become a regular landmark event at the beginning of the year, so that people can first gather with each other, and have all their questions answered at one site during the three days, instead of trekking across town to get to know all these companies and services.

"For all the conveniences of the internet, nothing beats the personal contact and immediate feedback from the expo. I think that expats who are arriving in Beijing would appreciate this one-stop information service at least once a year," he added.

Losada-Rodriquez definitely agrees that the expat show is a good forum for networking.

"At the end of the day you can also learn about most of the companies, opportunities and services through other forums like word of mouth, websites, and print publications and so on [but] it was a good place for foreigners to go look for jobs, meet people, and see the services that there are in China that cater to them," Losada-Rodriguez said.

Looking ahead, Freitas said that the expat show for next year will be moved to an earlier date to coincide with the wave of new expatriate arrivals which are usually at the beginning of the year.

"I think the earlier the better as normally expats would be arriving in January or February. We were expecting a little bit more than 10,000 visitors to the show this year but I think the change of dates was not very appropriate, [as] a lot of conflicting events were on."

Shanghai Expat Show Is Bigger

"The expatriate show is bigger in Shanghai than in Beijing as there are more companies exhibiting and maybe 12,000 visiting, but bear in mind that the expatriate community is much bigger. We will be moving it back to late March for 2010."