About China International Optics Fair

China International Optics Fair

The China International Optics Fair (CIOF) is Asia's largest and most authoritative optical and eyewear exhibition. Held each September at the China International Exhibition Centre in Beijing, it is the flagship event of China's optical industry — the world's biggest optical consumer market — and a principal sourcing platform for spectacle frames, sunglasses, lenses, contact lenses, optometric instruments and optical manufacturing equipment. The fair is approved by China's Ministry of Commerce, supported by the China National Light Industry Council, and recognised by the ministry as a "Distinguished Optical Exhibition." It is organised by the China Optometric & Optical Association (COOA), the body that governs China's optical industry, together with the Sinolight International Holdings Corporation (formerly the China Light Industrial Corporation for Foreign Economic & Technical Cooperation), and co-organised by Orient International Exhibition Co., Ltd. of Hong Kong.

Origins: from the 1987 national exhibition

CIOF's lineage runs from the national optical exhibition first staged in Beijing in 1987, an era when China's eyewear industry was beginning to open to international trade and the exhibition was approved and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, the predecessor of today's Ministry of Commerce. In 1997, at the show's 10th anniversary, Orient International Exhibition Co., Ltd. of Hong Kong joined COOA and the China Light Industrial Corporation for Foreign Economic & Technical Cooperation as co-organiser, and the fair was renamed the China International Optics Fair — a change that, as the organisers note, reflected the exhibition's standing at home and abroad and the participation and support of international optical merchants. COOA itself, founded in 1985, has remained the industry's governing association throughout the fair's development.

Organisers and official standing

CIOF is one of the two annual optical shows in China enjoying official endorsement and support — a credential its organisers emphasise as significant in the Chinese exhibition system. The shows are approved by the Ministry of Commerce and supported by the China National Light Industry Council. COOA organises the fair as the association governing China's optical industry, setting professional standards and representing manufacturers, retailers and optometric practice; the Sinolight International Holdings Corporation, the state-owned enterprise running international trade in its sector, is co-organiser, and Orient International Exhibition of Hong Kong brings international exhibition expertise. Since 2001 the organisers have also run a spring sister show, the China (Shanghai) International Optics Fair (SIOF), giving the industry two annual fixtures — Shanghai in spring and Beijing in autumn — under the same organisational umbrella.

Venue and layout

The fair occupies the China International Exhibition Centre in Beijing each September. In its recent form it has filled all eight exhibition halls of the centre — a gross exhibition area of some 55,000 square metres — with additional space at the adjacent Grand Metropark Hotel used in 2023. The halls are zoned by exhibitor type: the prestige international product hall showcases global brands, with other halls devoted to Chinese exhibitors. In 2023 the international hall gathered 100 exhibitors displaying 190 global brands, while 593 Chinese exhibitors participated across the show — a layout that lets trade buyers compare the world's designer eyewear industry with the output of China's own large manufacturing base in a single visit.

Scale and recent editions

CIOF's growth tracks the expansion of China's eyewear market. The 21st CIOF in 2008, held just after the Beijing Olympics, reached a then-record 46,000 square metres with 730 exhibitors from 20 countries and regions, including first-time participants from Australia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine. The 22nd edition in 2009 was staged at the same scale, expecting over 770 exhibitors and 50,000 visitors. After a suspension due to COVID-19 in 2022, CIOF2023 — the 34th edition, held September 11–13, 2023 — showcased 693 exhibitors in total (over 680 in organiser reporting) including 190 global brands from 20 countries and regions, and recorded an impressive 62,372 visits over three days under the themes of brand promotion and high-technology deployment. The 35th edition followed on September 10–12, 2024, and the 35th–36th editions of 2024–2025 cite 770-plus exhibitors and over 50,000 visitors on about 55,000 square metres.

Exhibition scope

The fair's exhibits cover the complete optical value chain. On the fashion side are spectacle frames and sunglasses, from mass-market ranges to designer and luxury collections — Korean stylish eyewear brands, German names such as ic! berlin, Mykita, Rodenstock and Carl Zeiss, and Japanese designer brands such as Masunaga, Matsuda and 999.9 have all featured in the international halls. On the technical side are ophthalmic lenses, contact lenses and care products, optometric and diagnostic instruments, and optical manufacturing equipment and technology, including lens-processing machinery from exhibitors such as Satisloh and Schneider. The combination makes CIOF simultaneously a fashion-ordering event and a professional equipment exhibition for opticians, chain retailers, distributors and manufacturers.

International participation

International participation is central to CIOF's identity. The 190 global brands shown in 2023 came from 20 countries and regions including Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Portugal and the United States. Korean eyewear has been a particular strength, with 25 Korean brands displayed in 2023, while German and Japanese designer labels anchor the prestige hall. For overseas brands, CIOF offers direct access to buyers from across China, the biggest optical consumer market in the world; for Chinese manufacturers, it is a shop window to international distributors. The fair's organisers describe its mission as serving and promoting the development of the optical industry and making CIOF an important bridge connecting China's optical industry with the world, enhancing global business transactions and exchanges.

The Shanghai sister show: SIOF

Since 2001, the same organisers have staged the China (Shanghai) International Optics Fair (SIOF) each spring, giving the trade a second annual meeting point in China's commercial capital. SIOF2024, the 22nd edition, ran March 11–13, 2024 in Shanghai. The pairing of an autumn Beijing flagship with a spring Shanghai show mirrors the structure of other mature Chinese industries and allows brands to present collections and equipment twice yearly to overlapping but distinct regional buyer bases. Together, CIOF and SIOF constitute the two officially endorsed annual fixtures of the Chinese optical calendar.

Significance for China's optical industry

CIOF's importance rests on the scale of the market it serves and the authority of its organisers. As the exhibition of the industry's governing association, with Ministry of Commerce approval and "Distinguished Optical Exhibition" recognition, it is the venue where Chinese optical retail chains, independent opticians and distributors place orders, where manufacturing technology is demonstrated, and where international brands gauge Chinese demand. Nearly four decades after the first national exhibition in 1987, and with editions now numbering in the mid-thirties, the China International Optics Fair remains the defining trade event of the Asian optical industry.

Contemporary reporting from the fair illustrates the breadth of that role. Coverage of the 2023 edition recorded the prestige hall's mix of European and Japanese designer labels alongside a strong Korean contingent of 25 brands, while the wider halls presented the output of China's own frame- and lens-making clusters. CIOF2010's advance reporting likewise anticipated more than 42,000 square metres, over 770 exhibitors from 21 countries and regions and 50,000 visitors, with world-renowned collections from brands such as Bvlgari, Prada and Versace presented through their licensees. Across the decades, the pattern is consistent: the fair serves simultaneously as a luxury-brand showcase, a volume sourcing market and a technology exhibition, which is why it retains its position at the centre of the region's optical trade.