ZHONGSHAN, China, Oct. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — This October, the global lighting industry will once again turn its attention to the Pearl River Delta. The 2026 China (Guzhen) International Lighting Fair (Autumn Edition), also known as the 35th Guzhen Lighting Fair, will take place from October 22 to 25, 2026, at the Guzhen Convention and Exhibition Center in Zhongshan, Guangdong. Thousands of suppliers, nine buyer delegations, three major trends. They represent a major collective showcase for China’s lighting industry at a time of profound change in global trade.
Highlight 1: A New National Milestone for the Lighting Industry’s Only National-Level Trade Event
The Guzhen Lighting Fair’s standing begins with its national credentials. Approved by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China as a national-level exhibition and certified by UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, this edition draws on a strong industrial base: a RMB 100 billion-plus lighting industry cluster centered on Guzhen and encompassing 11 towns and subdistricts across three surrounding cities.
Notably, the fair has been included in the 2026 National Consumer Goods Campaign Key Activity List, jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It is the only major annual trade event from the lighting industry included on the list. The fair is also listed in the Guangdong Department of Commerce’s 2026 Guangdong Trade Nationwide program. These endorsements recognize the collective strength of Guzhen’s lighting industry and mark the fair’s rise from an industry exhibition to a national showcase.
Highlight 2: Seven themed Halls Reflect the Industry’s Evolving Priorities
All seven halls at the main venue have been upgraded, creating a new exhibition and trading layout in which each hall has a distinct theme and identity.
The seven-hall layout reveals three clear trends: increasingly sophisticated smart technologies, the return of design and aesthetics to the mainstream, and greater supply chain autonomy and control. Hall A, Urban Lighting and Smart Engineering, focuses on smart lighting and project lighting. Hall B, inter and commercial lighting, brings together decorative fixtures, residential lighting, and commercial lighting. Hall C, outdoor and special lighting, covers outdoor lighting, lighting for cultural and tourism attractions, and special-purpose fixtures. Halls D and E, lighting manufacturing and supply-chain, connect machinery, auxiliary materials and components, and supporting services. Hall F, smart home and living decor, combines smart home technologies with decorative furnishings and accessories. Hall H, new brands and cross-border sourcing, gives buyers a one-stop product sourcing destination.
The fair will showcase advances in three major areas. In AI integration, lighting control systems powered by large AI models and wireless AIoT lighting solutions will deliver more responsive experiences, with light adapting to people’s movements. In health-focused lighting, highlights include classroom lighting solutions designed to meet China’s new national standards, along with human-centric lighting and products tailored to older adults. In green and low-carbon development, the displays will span high-efficiency energy-saving technologies, solar photovoltaic and energy storage applications, and innovations in environmentally friendly materials.
Highlight 3: Targeted Sourcing for a Thousand Buyers Shifts the Focus from Visitor Traffic to Lasting Business
This edition will assemble nine professional buyer delegations. Six domestic groups will cover smart lighting systems, decorative lighting, linear lighting, wholesale distribution, the full range of lighting products, and intelligent lighting. Under the banner “Hundreds of Businesses, Nationwide Connections: Leading Lighting Distributors’ Sourcing Delegation,” the fair will invite selected company executives and decision-makers to attend with concrete sourcing plans. Three further delegations will bring together key overseas buyers, media and associations, and key opinion leaders (KOLs).
This approach shifts the emphasis from visitor traffic to a sustained flow of orders. Using the IIRIS data management system, the fair will identify high-quality buyers, establish qualification criteria for major buyers, and build a year-round service framework. By extending short-term connections at the fair into year-round trade support, it will help exhibitors turn a four-day encounter into year-round business relationships.
Highlight 4: The Hosted Buyer Program Combines Business Matching, VIP Sourcing Tour, and Networking Party
The fair’s flagship Hosted Buyer Program (HBP) will return with an expanded program, inviting hundreds of overseas buyers to join an international sourcing delegation. The business matching area in Hall H will host five Denggle.com Business Matching, four for overseas buyers and one for domestic buyers. The proven format combines pre-event research into buyers’ needs, targeted invitations, and one-on-one matching in a dedicated meeting area during the fair. It will cover major lighting markets including Southeast Asia, South Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa.
A distinctive addition is the partnership with GZCD•STAR ALLIANCE for the “Stars Gather at Star Alliance: A Global Search for Lighting” event series. Activities will include a guided tour for 40 overseas buyers, store visits by KOLs, and the “206 Hosted Buyer Program Networking Party.” Together, they will create an integrated program of exhibition matchmaking, direct sourcing at lighting malls, and social networking over cocktails.
This combination of exhibition halls and lighting malls, formal business meetings and informal networking, sets the Guzhen Lighting Fair apart. Behind the event is Guzhen’s extensive local industry. In China’s Lighting Capital, the entire town serves as a showroom, with opportunities to do business throughout the area. This is the foundation of the fair’s distinctive strength: industry concentration drives efficiency, and location creates a competitive advantage that is hard to replicate.
Highlight 5: Five Lighting Forums Address the Industry’s Challenges and Next Steps
This edition will feature five themed forums, all centered on light.
“Illuminating Prospects: Forum on Industry Trends and New Opportunities in Guzhen” will examine the reshaping of global trade and the direction of industrial policy, exploring how the industry can move from selling lighting products to providing lighting solutions and services.
The “Building Intelligence with Light, Achieving Low-Carbon Coexistence” forum will focus on green, low-carbon IoT applications, wireless AIoT lighting, and upgrades to smart manufacturing in factories.
“Expanding Markets with Light, Making Retail Breakthroughs,” a distribution alliance forum, will address declining foot traffic for dealers and encourage shared access to customer bases and joint brand initiatives among lighting malls.
“Light for All Homes, Harmonious Living,” a forum on health-focused lighting, will explore lighting environments that serve people of all ages and the standardization of lighting for older adults.
“Global Reach with Light, Profit at the Endpoints,” a practical matchmaking forum on cross-platform customer acquisition through new media and overseas expansion, will focus on AI-powered customer acquisition across new media channels and generative engine optimization (GEO).
The five events will be organized in collaboration with leading bodies including the China Association of Lighting Industry, the Guangdong Lighting Association, and the Guangdong Electronic Commerce Association. They will cover industry trends, smart manufacturing, retail channels, health-focused lighting, and overseas expansion through new media. Their themes address both where businesses should go and how to get there. Combining strategic direction with practical methods is precisely the value industry dialogue should deliver.
Highlight 6: A Networking Party Builds Industry Consensus Through Recognition
To mark its 35th edition, the fair will hold the 35th Guzhen Lighting Fair Sourcing and Supply Information Networking Dinner on the evening of October 22. The organizing committee will launch a “Gold Partners” recognition program, with awards across several categories honoring companies that have supported the fair over the long term, demonstrated sustained commitment to the industry, and excelled in their respective fields.
By recognizing exemplary businesses, the program will establish industry role models, strengthen longstanding exhibitors’ connection to the fair, and demonstrate to global buyers the industry’s commitment to quality and a strong reputation for reliability. Around 250 key guests are expected to be invited, including representatives of government, business and industry associations, industrial bases, and high-caliber exhibitor partners. With the fair as a meeting point, the dinner will help companies support one another and strengthen ties between individual businesses and the wider industry.
Highlight 7: The 2026 Short-Video & Live Creator Contest Award Ceremony and KOL Tours Test New Ways for a Traditional Trade Fair to Reach Wider Audiences
“Good Lighting in Guzhen: The 2026 Short-Video & Live Creator Contest Award Ceremony” has evolved into a year-round signature event on Douyin and WeChat Channels. It features two categories, short-form video and on-site livestreaming, with quarterly popularity awards, annual grand prizes, and other honors. Recognition, audience metrics, and cash prizes will encourage participation by industry buyers and sellers, creators, and influencers.
The “Star Scout KOL Sourcing Group” will bring together more than 30 short-video creators specializing in lighting. Through in-depth short videos and on-site livestreams, they will explore the fair and amplify its reach across their combined online channels. Campaign-related content is expected to generate more than one million impressions over the full campaign period.
The Data Foundation: A Buyer Database of Over 1.3 Million Records and Year-Round Online Exhibitions and Trade
For promotion and buyer outreach, the fair uses the IIRIS data management system to draw on more than 1.3 million global buyer records. It works with over 150 trade and general-interest media outlets and web portals, alongside a social media presence on WeChat, Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu, and Weibo, to send multiple rounds of targeted invitations to buyers in more than 140 countries and regions. Offline, it partners with over ten industry print publications and sends promotion teams to more than 40 lighting wholesale markets across China. Outdoor advertising will also appear along Guzhen’s main roads, on shuttle buses, and on LED displays.
On the digital side, the fair’s specialized B2B trading website, Denggle.com, and its online exhibition and e-commerce platform, Denggle EZbuy, use big data and intelligent recommendations to match buyers and suppliers precisely, providing online exhibition and trading services 365 days a year. By extending a four-day fair into a year-round online presence and complementing in-person connections with data-driven matching, the Guzhen Lighting Fair is redefining the reach of a lighting exhibition, extending it beyond its physical venue and four-day run.
Since its launch in 1999, the Guzhen Lighting Fair has held 34 successful editions over 27 years. From a regional ordering fair to an international exhibition and trading platform spanning more than 1.5 million square meters, each stage of its development has kept pace with the transformation of China’s lighting industry.
As AI integration reshapes lighting products, health-focused lighting responds to people’s aspirations for a better life, and green, low-carbon practices become a requirement for access to global supply chains, the 35th Guzhen Lighting Fair offers more than seven event highlights. It presents a promising vision for the future of China’s lighting industry.