China High-Tech Fair (CHTF), launched in 1999, has been held annually in Southeast China's Shenzhen city for 19 years. A great number of state leaders and celebrities have attended the previous fairs and a series of historical events make CHTF an influential fair globally.  

State leaders present at CHTF  

Former Premier Zhu Rongji attended the 1st CHTF and announced that the Chinese government had decided to hold CHTF in Shenzhen annually, making it a new national fair besides Canton Fair and the China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT).  

State leaders who were present at previous CHTFs include Wu Bangguao, Wu Yi, Zeng Peiyan, Hui Liangyu, Wang Yang and Hu Chunhua.  

Big names active at CHTF 

Each year CHTF attracts a great many big names in the fields of high-tech, technical innovation, and internet from all over the world.  

The most popular part of CHTF is the China High-Tech Forum where 15 Nobel laureates, more than 100 minister-level or above officials, and more than 400 multinational presidents, entrepreneurs and celebrities from different fields, such as Konstantin Novoselov, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in physics, come and share the latest developments in science and technology, financial investment and other fields.  

Big events at CHTF 

Since 1999, CHTF has launched a series of new activities, such as the Entrepreneurial Enterprise Investment Talks, the Dialogue between Sino-US CEOs, and the Intellectual Products Protection Forum. The "Right Protection Center" and the "Exhibition Area for New Energy, Energy Saving and Environmental Protection" were also set up.  

In 2004, CHTF was moved to the newly-built Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, where the exhibition area was three times bigger than that of the previous site. In 2005, CHTF started to travel to foreign countries, of which its first stop was Vienna, Austria. As CHTF's services keep improving, it also enjoys an increasing global influence.   

CHTF’s "Information Technology and Product Exhibition" gained recognition from the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI), making it a world fair with outstanding performance.  

The 20th CHTF, which is about to be held from Nov 14 to 18, will set up a "time corridor" to display CHTF's development process over the past 20 years and present a clear picture of the development of high-tech industries in China for visitors.