Chinese Companies That Accept Visitors: Which Firms Host Delegations in 2026
Chinese companies that accept visitors fall into three groups in 2026. A few run public tours that anyone can book. Most host foreign delegations, but only through partners they already trust. Some areas, such as core R&D (research and development) labs, stay closed to all outside groups. This list sorts 24 well-known companies by sector and city, with the access route and the lead time for each.
Only a small number of China's leading companies sell visits directly. Xiaomi, XPeng and a few others run public tours. Huawei, BYD, DJI, Tencent, Alibaba, CATL and most other names on a delegation's list host foreign groups through pre-vetted partners. Plan three to six weeks ahead for one visit and eight to twelve weeks for a multi-city program.
Key Takeaways
- Three access routes. Public tours, partner-vetted group visits, and invitation-only areas. Corporate delegations almost always use the second route.
- No public booking page for the big names. BYD, Huawei, DJI, Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu and CATL all receive foreign delegations, but none sells that access online.
- Lead times differ by host. BYD needs 30 to 45 days, Huawei four to six weeks and Alibaba three to four weeks. A full program needs eight to twelve weeks.
- Shenzhen has the longest list. Beijing covers AI and the public Xiaomi factory. Hangzhou, for Alibaba and Unitree, is a short train ride from Shanghai.
- Rules change often. Reconfirm every visit within two weeks of travel and keep a backup host for each key stop.
How Corporate Visitor Access Works in China
Groups often ask us the same question: which companies will actually let us in? The answer has two sides. More companies accept visitors than most people expect. However, fewer of them accept visitors directly than most people hope.
Route 1: public tours. Xiaomi's EV factory in Beijing allocates places by lottery. It has hosted close to 200,000 visitors from more than 70 countries since it opened, according to China News Service (March 2026). XPeng opened its Guangzhou headquarters and its Guangzhou and Zhaoqing plants to the public in January 2026. These routes are real, but they are short fixed walks.
Route 2: partner-vetted group visits. This is the route for corporate groups. Huawei, BYD, DJI, Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu host foreign delegations often. Still, they do not run a public booking page. Instead, the host works with partners it already knows. The partner sends the group profile, vouches for the delegation and takes responsibility for the group on site. A cold email from an unknown overseas organization usually gets no reply.
Route 3: invitation only. Lines for unreleased products, core R&D labs and other sensitive areas stay closed. No operator can promise this level of access. If an operator does, treat it as a warning sign.
China Study Tour (CST) has arranged company visits for 500+ executives from 30+ countries since 2013, with teams in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. In 2026, most new inquiries come from EV, robotics and AI delegations from Europe and Southeast Asia. As a result, the best slots at the most requested hosts fill early.
Technology and Hardware Companies That Host Visitors
Most of this list sits in the Shenzhen and Dongguan area. For that reason, many tech delegations never leave the Greater Bay Area. Huawei shows how partner-vetted access works. Its headquarters are in Bantian, Shenzhen, but most foreign groups visit the Songshan Lake campus in Dongguan, about an hour away. Core R&D stays closed, and every passport goes to Huawei in advance. Our Huawei company visit guide, DJI visit guide and Baidu visit guide cover each host in detail.
| Company | Location | Access type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Huawei | Shenzhen (Bantian) / Dongguan (Songshan Lake) | Partner-vetted groups | Campus tour and product experience zones. 4 to 6 weeks lead time. Core R&D closed. |
| DJI | Shenzhen (Sky City, Nanshan) | Partner-vetted groups | Showroom and drone product briefings. Factory floor restricted. |
| Xiaomi | Beijing | Public lottery + group visits | EV factory places for individuals by lottery, in very high demand. Corporate visits go through partners. |
| Baidu | Beijing | Partner-vetted groups | Apollo robotaxi rides and AI briefings. One of the easier AI visits to confirm. |
| iFlytek | Hefei (HQ) / Beijing | Partner-vetted groups | Live voice-AI and translation demos. Fits well with the Hefei EV and chip cluster. |
| ByteDance | Beijing | Close to invitation only | Hosts some delegations, with stricter checks and fewer slots. Confirm before building the itinerary. |
| SenseTime / Megvii | Shanghai / Beijing | Partner-vetted groups | Computer-vision demos. Good for AI and security-technology groups. |
| ZTE | Shenzhen (Nanshan) | Partner-vetted groups | 5G showroom and smart manufacturing. A practical backup when Huawei slots are full. |
Access routes and lead times as of October 2026. Each visit depends on the date and the group profile.
EV and New Energy
BYD is the most requested company visit in China. At the Shenzhen headquarters in Pingshan, groups see two sites about 20 minutes apart by car: the technology exhibition hall (about two hours) and the museum (about one hour). The production workshops at the headquarters are closed. BYD approves each participant in advance, so plan 30 to 45 days ahead. In September 2026, CST hosted a Saudi delegation on this route and added a GAC Group plant in Guangzhou for the factory floor. See the BYD headquarters tour report and the BYD factory visit guide.
NIO hosts executive sessions at its Shanghai headquarters. XPeng is one of the few EV makers with a public tour. CATL receives delegations at its battery showroom in Ningde. Program cost depends on group size, hotels and the number of hosts, so CST quotes each program separately.
| Company | Location | Access type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| BYD | Shenzhen HQ (Pingshan) | Partner-vetted groups | Exhibition hall and museum; no production workshops at HQ. 30 to 45 days lead time. Test drives need a Chinese driver's license. |
| NIO | Shanghai (HQ) | Partner-vetted groups; NIO Houses public | Sessions on battery swap and global strategy. Easy to combine with other Shanghai visits. |
| XPeng | Guangzhou / Zhaoqing | Public tour + groups | Headquarters and plants open to the public since January 2026, run on a non-profit basis. |
| CATL | Ningde, Fujian | Partner-vetted groups | Battery-technology showroom. Suits energy and automotive groups. |
| GAC Group | Guangzhou | Partner-vetted groups | Plant visit used by CST as the factory stop after BYD headquarters in September 2026. |
EV and battery hosts, as of October 2026.
Internet and Digital
Alibaba is the main stop in this sector. Its Xixi campus in Hangzhou works like a small town, with canteens, sports areas and face-recognition entry. Access is for organized groups with a sponsoring organization. One visit needs three to four weeks. Avoid early November, because the commerce teams are busy with the November 11 shopping festival. Note that Ant Group, which runs Alipay, is a separate company, so payments are not usually on the agenda. See our Alibaba company visit guide.
Tencent hosts corporate groups at its Binhai towers in Shenzhen; see our Tencent visit guide. Meituan and JD give logistics and supply-chain briefings to groups with an operations focus. A Freshippo supermarket, with ceiling conveyors and live order picking, also explains Chinese retail logistics very clearly.
| Company | Location | Access type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alibaba | Hangzhou (Xixi campus) | Partner-vetted groups | Campus walk, company briefing, Q&A. 3 to 4 weeks lead time; avoid early November. |
| Tencent | Shenzhen (Binhai towers) | Partner-vetted groups | Showroom and digital-economy briefing. Smaller groups are easier to place. |
| Meituan | Beijing | Partner-vetted groups | Delivery logistics and on-demand services. Pairs with the Beijing AI visits. |
| JD.com | Beijing / logistics parks | Partner-vetted groups | Automated warehouses and supply chain, for sourcing and operations teams. |
| Freshippo | Shanghai / Hangzhou | Public stores; guided for groups | A live retail-tech stop that fits easily next to an Alibaba visit. |
Internet and digital hosts, as of October 2026. Office floors and data centers are not part of any visit.
Manufacturing and Robotics
In this sector, the factory floor is the reason to go, and access rules are strict. Foxconn's lighthouse factory in Longhua, Shenzhen, is open only through business channels. The robotics companies are easier. UBTECH shows its Walker humanoid robots in Shenzhen, and Unitree shows four-legged and humanoid robots in Hangzhou. Midea's smart factories around Foshan host manufacturing groups. In 2026, more delegations make this sector the main focus of the trip.
| Company | Location | Access type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foxconn | Shenzhen (Longhua) | Business channel only | Lighthouse factory with automated lines and AI quality checks. No public route. |
| UBTECH | Shenzhen | Partner-vetted groups | Humanoid robot demos. A reliable stop on AI and robotics routes. |
| Unitree | Hangzhou | Partner-vetted groups | Four-legged and humanoid robot demos. Pairs with the Alibaba day. |
| Midea | Foshan | Partner-vetted groups | Smart-factory walk. Half a day from Guangzhou or Shenzhen. |
| Pudu Robotics | Shenzhen | Partner-vetted groups | Service-robot showroom. Fits a half-day slot. |
| Bambu Lab | Shenzhen | Partner-vetted groups | Consumer 3D printers at global scale. Common on innovation routes. |
Manufacturing and robotics hosts, as of October 2026. Photo rules are stricter on live production floors.
China's leading companies accept outside groups only through pre-vetted partners with verified credentials. The partner is responsible for the group's profile, the passport checks and conduct on the day. Independent cold outreach almost never works. CST's access rests on relationships built since 2013, not on a contact list.
Chinese Companies That Accept Visitors, by City
Most programs cover two or three cities in five to ten days, because each extra city costs a travel day. Shenzhen and Dongguan come first: the usual route pairs one tech company, one EV company and one drone company over two to three days. Guangzhou adds XPeng and GAC. The autumn 2026 Canton Fair runs October 15 to 19, October 23 to 27 and October 31 to November 4. It fills hotels across the region, so book early if your dates overlap. See our Shenzhen destination guide for the wider city plan.
Beijing covers AI: Baidu's robotaxi rides, ByteDance for groups that pass its checks, and the public Xiaomi factory. Shanghai has NIO and the Anting auto cluster. Hangzhou is about 45 minutes away by high-speed train, for Alibaba and Unitree. Hefei, home to iFlytek, suits groups with a hard-tech focus.
| City cluster | Main companies | How it fits a program |
|---|---|---|
| Shenzhen and Dongguan | Huawei, BYD, DJI, Tencent, UBTECH, Pudu, ZTE, Foxconn | Two to three days, one or two companies per day. The usual first trip for tech and EV groups. |
| Beijing | Baidu, ByteDance, Xiaomi, Meituan, JD, Megvii | AI and policy focus. Add the Xiaomi factory lottery when dates allow. |
| Shanghai and Hangzhou | NIO, SenseTime, Alibaba, Unitree, Freshippo | Hangzhou is a day trip or one night from Shanghai. |
| Guangzhou and Foshan | XPeng, GAC, Midea | An easy add-on to a Shenzhen route. Canton Fair weeks in April and October fill hotels. |
| Hefei | iFlytek, EV and battery plants, chip cluster | For groups with a hard-tech or science focus. |
City clusters used in 2026 programs. Our China destinations guide covers each city.
How to Confirm Access in 2026
Whatever the route, confirmation follows the same five steps. Most delays happen at step three.
- Define your question. Hosts and partners choose better against a sector focus than against a list of names.
- Sort your list by access route. Use the tables above, and keep one confirmed backup for every key visit.
- Send a full group profile with every passport. Security checks run on the passport list. One missing passport can hold up the whole approval.
- Wait for approval, then fix the format. The host confirms the date. Then agree on length, topics, interpreting language, photo rules and any NDA (non-disclosure agreement).
- Reconfirm within two weeks of travel. Hosts sometimes reschedule at short notice. Even Chinese companies that accept visitors on public tours change their rules. A backup host protects the program.
Lead Times and Calendar
| Access route | Typical lead time | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Public tour | Days to a few weeks | Xiaomi lottery, XPeng, Tsingtao Beer Museum |
| One partner-vetted visit | 3 to 6 weeks | Alibaba 3 to 4 weeks, Huawei 4 to 6 weeks, BYD 30 to 45 days |
| Multi-company, multi-city program | 8 to 12 weeks | Needed to secure the strongest hosts in each city |
Lead times as of October 2026. Peak seasons (March to May, September to November) push every number up.
Plan around the calendar too. Most companies do not host groups during Golden Week (October 1 to 7) or in the weeks around Chinese New Year (February 6 in 2027). Our China visa, timing and budget guide has the full calendar, and the corporate visit FAQ answers questions on group size and what a visit includes.
Who can visit: company leadership teams, industry associations, university and business school groups, investors, and government trade missions. Languages: English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese. All guides are bilingual, and additional language support is available upon request.
CST program managers in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen compiled this list of Chinese companies that accept visitors from the visits CST has arranged since 2013. The BYD headquarters and GAC Group details come from a CST visit with a Saudi delegation in September 2026. Public tour facts come from the sources linked in the text. Access routes and lead times are a snapshot as of October 2026.
FAQ
Which Chinese companies accept foreign visitors in 2026?
More than most groups expect, through three routes. Xiaomi in Beijing, XPeng in Guangzhou and the Tsingtao Beer Museum in Qingdao run public tours. Huawei, BYD, DJI, Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, CATL, NIO, UBTECH, Foxconn and Midea host foreign delegations, but only through partners they already know. ByteDance is the hardest of the large names to confirm.
Can we visit Huawei, BYD or DJI without going through an agency?
In practice, no. These companies have no public booking page for groups, and emails from unknown overseas organizations usually get no reply. The host works with partners it knows. The partner sends the group profile and the passport list, and takes responsibility for the group on the day. A single traveler can sometimes join a delegation that is already confirmed.
Which companies can you visit in Shenzhen?
Shenzhen has the longest list in China. It includes the BYD headquarters exhibition hall and museum, DJI, Tencent, ZTE, UBTECH, Pudu, Bambu Lab and the Foxconn lighthouse factory. Huawei's main visitor campus at Songshan Lake in Dongguan is about an hour away. Most programs plan one or two companies per day over two to three days.
Are there any Chinese factories with public tours?
Yes, but the list is short. Xiaomi's EV factory in Beijing allocates places by lottery and has hosted close to 200,000 visitors. XPeng opened its Guangzhou headquarters and plants to the public in January 2026. The Tsingtao Beer Museum takes international bank cards. A public tour is a fixed route, not a business briefing, so reconfirm close to travel.
How far in advance should a delegation book company visits in China?
Public tours need a few days to a few weeks. A single partner-vetted visit needs three to six weeks: Alibaba about three to four weeks, Huawei four to six, and BYD 30 to 45 days. A program with several companies in several cities works best when booked eight to twelve weeks ahead, especially in the spring and autumn peak seasons.
What documents does a corporate visit to China require?
The host needs a group profile and the full name and passport details of every delegate before it approves the visit. One missing passport can delay the whole group. For entry, citizens of 48 countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia and most EU states, can stay up to 30 days without a visa until December 31, 2026. US and Indian citizens need a visa.
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