In this paper, a seven-core erbium-doped fibre, to the best of our knowledge is fabricated for the first time with a China-based MCVD technology combined with drilling. A seven-core erbium-doped fibre amplifier is constructed with core pumping using fan in/out devices. For the signal, a 31 channel C-band DWDM light is used, with a total power of 0 dBm. The gain fibre is pumped by a 980 nm light source with a power of 350 mW. The maximum gain of 17 dB, average noise index of less than 6 dB, and the gain difference between individual fibre cores of less than 5 dB are obtained. Seven channels of signals are amplified simultaneously. After compensating for the passive loss of the whole system, the gain as high as 21 dB is able to meet the commercial application of erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA). The disadvantage lies in the high complexity of the amplification structure system of the core pumping, and thus, the cladding pumping scheme is an effective way to reduce the structural complexity and improve the energy utilisation rate of the future MC-EDFA system.