Now in his 80s, Pak Heng Tse, president of Canada-based Sun Wah Foods Ltd., has kept decades of Canton Fair memorabilia, from early paper entry passes and invitation cards to commemorative stamps. For the Chinese Canadian businessman, the collection is more than a personal archive: it records a journey that followed China's transformation into a major trading powerhouse.
As the Canton Fair marks its 70th anniversary this year, the Chinese Canadian businessman has returned to China's largest and longest-running international trade fair in Guangzhou for its 140th session, an event that has shaped both his business and his understanding of China's economic development.
"The development of the Canton Fair over its 140 editions has also witnessed China's rapid progress in every field," he said.
Tse's first encounter with the fair came when he was still in secondary school. He visited Guangzhou on a graduation trip to broaden his horizons, arriving as the first Canton Fair was being held at the Sino-Soviet Friendship Building. It was not until 1959 that he officially participated in the fair as a buyer.
His family ran a distillery producing rice wine. At the Canton Fair, he bought alcoholic beverages from different parts of China, including rice wine from Guangdong, rose liquor from Tianjin and kaoliang liquor from Tianjin and Xiamen. He also purchased Chinese distilling yeast, taking the products back to Hong Kong and Macao to supply local distilleries.
At the time, traders in Hong Kong and Macao played an important role in bringing Chinese goods to overseas markets. Through local distribution networks and repackaging under local labels, Chinese products could reach consumers in Europe and North America, helping China earn much-needed foreign exchange.
"I think the Canton Fair was so important to the country's development and held such commemorative value," Tse said. "That's why I kept all these Canton Fair souvenirs."
Over more than six decades, Tse has witnessed China's industrial transformation through the Canton Fair, including the evolution of his own business partnership with Pearl River Bridge, a Chinese condiment brand he first encountered at the fair in 1959.
Before China's reform and opening-up, Pearl River Bridge soy sauce was among the few Chinese products available overseas. More than 50 years later, Sun Wah Foods remains a key Canadian partner, with the business expanding from soy sauce to a broader range of sauces and convenient sauce packs.
For Tse, the enduring partnership reflects how the Canton Fair has helped businesses adapt to changing markets while building lasting connections between China and the world.
Tse has also passed that connection on to his daughter, Winnie Tse, now CEO of Sun Wah Foods. After graduating, she first joined her father at the Canton Fair in 1997, when it was held at the Guangzhou New Fa Exhibition Center. Since then, the fair has remained an important way for her to keep up with China's changing markets, industries and technology.
"If you were to attend just one trade fair in all of China, it would be the Canton Fair," Winnie Tse said. "At the Canton Fair, there's nothing you want to buy that you can't find. There are only things you never imagined you could buy."
For the Tse family, the Canton Fair is more than a twice-yearly business appointment or a tradition passed from father to daughter. It is a place where decades of personal memories intersect with China's changing industrial landscape, where long-standing partnerships continue to evolve with new markets and technologies. From Pak Heng Tse's first visit as a student to his daughter's efforts to keep pace with new products and innovations, their experiences reflect how the fair has connected generations of traders, businesses and markets across China and the world.
Reporter: Zeng Xiangxing
Poster: Lai Meiya, Huang Manshi (intern)
