746 The World's Largest Fair

Before he could return to China, Ye Dong's sudden presence reminded Qin Guan of his promise. His stay in the flourishing capital of fashion and the clash of splendid inspiration he had experienced had made him forget about the ordinary hosiery and beddings common people used.

It was the most ordinary products that were connected to bilateral trade and extensive cultural and artistic exchange. Artwork sales were limited, but public advertising was the most effective way to introduce a country to the rest of the world.

Of course, their objective was still to make money. Financial profit was the goal of the entire fair.

Frankfurt was the city with the most industrial fairs in Europe. Although it was the fifth largest city in Germany, its contribution to industrial production and commercial development was really important.

The city was famous for its large exhibition hall, which took up an area of about 300,000 square meters. All kinds of fairs were held there. The household textile fair was only one of them.

The large area could host 3,000 brands and 70,000-80,000 visitors a day. Most visitors were customers from all over the world.

Buying artwork was the dream job of any travel lover. All they had to do was purchase products for their companies and buy different things in different seasons.

They all looked like C-level gallery customers, except that they bought household products instead of paintings and antiques.

These products were a unique kind of artwork though, completely unlike the cheap sheets one could find at a wholesale market. As a result, the buyers were divided into different classes.

The best example of a top-level buyer was "L", which owned 240 chain stores all over the world and sold room decorations and modern artwork, including floor clocks, furniture, blankets, tea sets, cutlery, etc. Their products were famous for their high taste and prices, so their buyers were basically popular lifestyle artists.

These artists bought things like traditional Turkish handmade blankets, Indian sacrificial masks and Japanese paper lamps.

Ye Dong and the fabric manufacturers he represented were actually after second-level buyers, which were middle-end global furniture suppliers, such as Ikea and Walmart, who would place sufficient orders.

Third-level buyers worked for entire country agencies and placed orders at factories. The products were then processed in their own country under a brand new label. Those kind of orders made the most profit for brand customers, but were of little value to producers.

Everything was possible in China though, so the fabric makers decided to take a calculated risk. The Chinese were usually cautious when it came to business and preferred to play by the government's rules.

The cunning Chinese traders came to the fair with their most famous textiles, anxious to see the strange place where an unknown industry was developing.

They had brought with them their best products, as well as their ideas about high production and cheap labor.

So had Qin Guan, who had left the other models in Paris and led his team there to take advantage of this opportunity.

As he exited his hotel though, he saw someone he wasn't expecting.

"Guo Nuoyan? What are you doing here?"

"My boss assigned me a new task. You know that I'm good at speaking foreign languages..."

"Are you a spy?"

"Ha ha! Lower your voice. Actually, most Chinese people think like me. Learning from others is really important nowadays."

He was right. Those honest merchants might think this was only an exhibition platform, but smarter people could spot a good opportunity.

Ye Dong rushed to the Asian exhibition hall as soon as he arrived. He had no time to take care of Qin Guan. His friend would just have to show up at the hall as required.

Qin Guan began his adventure there.

There were African animal prints, luxury goods from Europe and traditional products from West Asia. The fair was a multicultural textile feast.