The China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair)'s organizing committee requires attending exhibitors and journalists to produce a non-crime record for the FIRST TIME in the fair's 51-year history. And overseas visitors are the only people exempt.

"To get the documentation, exhibitors must go to the police or provincial trade delegations, while journalists must go to police or media officials, who must sign the papers," Liang Yanfang, the organizing committee's press officer said.

Some exhibitors said they were overwhelmed and disappointed by the decision. It causes painful struggle for the non-local staff of the exhibitors to return hometown for the documentation.

"It is both unnecessary and groundless to urge exhibitors and journalists to produce such documentation, because even if a person has a criminal record, that doesn't constitute grounds for refusing to admit them," Guangzhou-based lawyer Lu Dequan also disagreed with the requirement.

Organizers should instead focus more on beefing up security, he said.