We have a deadline.
Stating a deadline is necessary but not sufficient. Chinese factories hear deadlines every day. Making yours stick requires linking it to a consequence the factory cares about.
我们有截止日期。
We have a deadline — stating that the order has a fixed delivery requirement, typically tied to a customer commitment, event, or seasonal window.
We have cutoff date.
We have a deadline — stating that the order has a fixed delivery requirement, typically tied to a customer commitment, event, or seasonal window.
WHEN IT FITS
截止日期 (deadline) is a word every Chinese factory hears and few take at face value — because they’ve been told “this is the deadline” by hundreds of buyers, and they know from experience that half of those deadlines are aspirational. Making your deadline real requires answering the question the factory is silently asking: “What happens if we miss it?” The best deadline communication bundles three things: the date, the reason, and the consequence. “8月15号必须到仓” (must arrive at warehouse by August 15) is the date. “客户那边的活动是8月20号” (the client’s event is August 20) is the reason. “晚了就赶不上了” (if late, we’ll miss it) is the consequence. Together, they form a deadline that a factory takes seriously, not one they file under “we’ll see.”
The Chinese calendar is part of deadline-setting, and foreigners who ignore it set deadlines that can’t be met. Chinese New Year (春节, Chūnjié) shuts down manufacturing for 2-4 weeks, and the weeks before it are a production crunch as every factory races to finish orders before workers go home. Setting a deadline for the week after CNY is setting a deadline for a week when the factory is at 30% staffing. The National Day holiday (国庆节, Guóqìngjié, October 1-7) is another hard stop. Smart buyers build these into their timelines from the start: 考虑到春节放假, 交期定在节后两周比较现实 (considering the CNY holiday, setting the lead time for two weeks after the holiday is more realistic).
If a deadline is genuinely hard — as in, late delivery means the order is worthless — state it clearly and early: 这个货期不能动, 晚了我们只能取消订单 (this delivery date can’t move — if it’s late we’ll have to cancel the order). But don’t bluff. If you say the deadline is hard and then accept a two-week delay, the factory learns that your deadlines are soft. The next order, they’ll treat every deadline you give as negotiable. A deadline is credibility: every time you enforce one, the next one gets taken more seriously. Every time you cave, the next one gets taken less seriously.
HOW PEOPLE ACTUALLY SAY IT
我们有截止日期，8月15号必须到仓，赶不上就错过销售季了。
We have a deadline — must arrive at the warehouse by August 15. If we miss it, we miss the sales season.
Deadline + specific date + business consequence — the complete effective communication这个时间不能动，客户那边是固定的活动日期。
This timing can't move — the client has a fixed event date.
Deadline justified by an external constraint the factory can understandCHOOSE BY SITUATION
这个单子有时效性。
This order is time-sensitive. — more formal, emphasizes the nature of the order rather than a specific date.
You want to signal urgency without committing to a specific date yet晚了我们就不要了。
If it's late, we won't take it. — the nuclear option: the deadline has teeth.
The deadline is genuinely hard and you're prepared to walk away — don't bluff