The aim of this study is to determine and prioritise factors affecting RFID adoption in Chinese manufacturing firms. Using six case studies and employing the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach this study suggests that the critical factors affecting RFID adoption are top management support, hardware & software cost, tag cost, industry force, and compatibility. These factors belong to soft factor-category as well as hard factor-category. For effective adoption of RFID technology management of the manufacturing firms must take these factors into account.