China .cn domain: who can register one and what the rules are

.cn is the country code domain of China, run by CNNIC, the China Internet Network Information Center. Individuals, companies and organisations can register a .cn domain, also from outside China, through a registrar accredited by CNNIC. You do have to prove your identity with a document: the domain is only registered in your name once that check has been approved.

This guide covers which country .cn belongs to, the .cn extensions you can choose, who can register one and how the identity check works, the naming rules, how to register, connect and transfer a .cn domain, and how .cn differs from .cn.com.

Which country is .cn?

.cn is the country code top-level domain of China, the People's Republic of China. CNNIC maintains the registry of all .cn names and also runs .中国, the same country domain in Chinese characters. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) sets the rules for domain names in China and supervises them. Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan each have their own extension and registry:

You can look up the registry of any extension in the IANA root zone database.

Which .cn extensions can you choose?

According to the CNNIC user FAQ, there are three kinds of .cn names:

• Directly under .cn, such as yourcompany.cn. Short and memorable.
• Under a category, such as yourcompany.com.cn. CNNIC groups these by the type of applicant: .com.cn, .net.cn, .org.cn, .ac.cn, .edu.cn, .gov.cn and .mil.cn. A name under .gov.cn is only for Party and government bodies in China, and other Chinese organisations set their own rules for .edu.cn and .mil.cn.
• Under a province or region, such as yourcompany.bj.cn for Beijing or yourcompany.sh.cn for Shanghai. There are 34 of them, including .gd.cn for Guangdong.

A .cn name can also contain Chinese characters, and .中国 is a separate extension in Chinese characters. CNNIC treats a name in simplified and in traditional Chinese characters as the same name.

Who can register a .cn domain?

Article 18 of the Implementing Rules of China ccTLD Registration (in force since 18 June 2019) allows natural persons, legal persons and unincorporated organisations to apply for a .cn domain. The rules set no nationality or residence requirement, and CNNIC accredits registrars outside China as well, including registrars in Europe.

.cn names are allocated on a first come, first served basis: a name goes to the first valid application CNNIC receives.

Real-name verification: proving who you are

For every .cn registration, your registrar and CNNIC check who the registrant is. You give your registrar:

• As an individual: your name, the type and number of your identity document, your postal address, phone number and email address.
• As an organisation: the organisation's name, the type and number of its registration certificate, its postal address, email address and phone number.
• A copy of your document: usually a colour scan or photo of the original. Your registrar tells you which documents it accepts.

Your registrar checks your details and passes them on to CNNIC, which according to its FAQ completes its review within one working day. The details must be real, accurate and complete, they must pass validation by the Chinese authorities, and they must match the WHOIS record exactly. So use your own name and your organisation's name exactly as they appear on your document. If your details are wrong and you do not correct them, the domain is not registered.

Keep your details up to date after registration as well. If your address, email address or phone number changes, tell your registrar within 30 days.

.cn naming rules

• Characters. Letters a to z, digits 0 to 9 and hyphens. Spaces and characters such as !, $ and & are not allowed. Chinese characters are.
• Hyphens. A hyphen cannot come first or last, cannot appear twice in a row and cannot be the only character.
• Length. A name has at most 63 characters. For Chinese characters, the length of the technical form of the name, starting with xn--, counts.
• Content. A name must not contain anything Chinese law prohibits. China's domain name regulations list, among other things, names that endanger national security, spread rumours or relate to gambling, violence or pornography, and names that insult others or infringe their rights.
• Term. You register a .cn domain for 1 to 10 years, in whole years. Your registrar sets the price.

When is a .cn domain the right choice?

Google's guidelines for multi-regional sites treat a country code domain as a strong signal that a site is meant for that country, and Google itself uses .cn for China as its example.

To send a second domain to your main site, see redirect a domain to another website.

ICP filing. The domain itself does not need to be filed anywhere in China. If your website runs on a server in mainland China, you also need an ICP filing with the MIIT, which you arrange through your hosting provider in China. If your website runs on a server outside mainland China, such as with LJPc hosting in Dutch data centres, Alibaba Cloud's documentation says no ICP filing is required.

How to register a .cn domain

1. Check in the CNNIC WHOIS (in Chinese) whether the name is still available. If it is taken, you can see which registrar it is with, among other details.
2. Choose a registrar from CNNIC's list of overseas registrars. Prices, terms and the documents they ask for are on the registrar's website.
3. Apply for the name in your own name or your organisation's, with your own address and an email address you read. Upload the copy of your identity document or registration certificate as your registrar asks.
4. Enter the name servers your domain should point to. If you host with LJPc, those are our name servers, as explained below.
5. Wait until the check has been approved, then look up the WHOIS record to make sure your details are correct.

Using your .cn domain with LJPc hosting

Your .cn domain stays with your registrar and we take care of your website and email. To connect it:

1. Open the order wizard in the customer portal, choose I already have one at another registrar and enter your domain, for example yourdomain.cn or yourdomain.com.cn. No account yet? Create one first.
2. Choose Keep domain elsewhere, connect hosting here.
3. Pick your hosting or forwarding package and complete the order. LJPc then creates a DNS zone for your domain.
4. Log in at your registrar and set the name servers of your .cn domain to ns1.ljpc.network, ns2.ljpc.network and ns3.ljpc.network. See change your name servers for how.

Prefer to keep DNS at your registrar? Then add individual records there that point to your hosting with us, as described in point your domain to LJPc hosting. If DNSSEC is enabled at your registrar, have the DS record removed before you change the name servers. After the change, the new information still has to spread across the internet, as explained in DNS propagation. For other points to check, such as email hosted elsewhere, see register a domain and link it to your hosting.

Transferring a .cn domain or changing the registrant

You move a .cn domain to another registrar with a transfer code. Your current registrar sends you the code within three working days of confirming that you are the registrant, free of charge. You give the code to your new registrar, who requests the transfer from CNNIC. After the transfer, your registration is extended by one year. For how transfer codes work in general, see get your EPP code and transfer your domain.

Under CNNIC's rules you cannot transfer a .cn domain when:

• it was registered less than 60 days ago;
• the registration expires within 15 days;
• the domain fees are unpaid;
• the registrant's identity has not been established, or the domain is in dispute;
• the domain is subject to legal proceedings, arbitration or a dispute resolution procedure;
• a Chinese authority has had the domain's resolution stopped.

To put the domain in someone else's name, apply to your registrar with the identity documents of both you and the new registrant. The registrar reviews the application within three working days. The new registrant must meet the same requirements as for a new registration, including the identity check. For more on this, see change the owner of a domain.

Expired: 30 days to renew

Your registrar reminds you of the renewal before the expiry date, for example by email. Not receiving that reminder does not take away your responsibility to renew. Once your .cn domain expires, you have 30 days to renew it. During that time the registrar may not suspend your domain for non-payment, unless you have agreed otherwise. If you do not renew within those 30 days, the registrar deletes the domain. For how expiry works for other extensions, see expired domain, redemption period or quarantine.

Email saying someone wants to register your name as .cn?

Received an email from an unknown company saying another party wants to register your company name as a .cn domain, and that you get first choice as the name's owner? That is a well-known sales tactic built on fear of losing your name. .cn names go to whoever applies first, and CNNIC's rules forbid registrars from pushing anyone into a registration through deception or pressure. To learn how to spot such emails and invoices, see how to spot a fake domain invoice.

If someone really has registered your trademark as a .cn domain, you can file a complaint under the China ccTLD Dispute Resolution Policy, for example with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. The name must be identical or confusingly similar to your name or mark, the registrant must have no right or legitimate interest in it, and it must have been registered or used in bad faith. A complaint is only possible for a domain registered less than three years ago.

.cn, .com.cn and .cn.com: what is the difference?

A .cn.com address looks Chinese, but it is not a Chinese extension. It belongs to .com, and CNNIC's rules, such as real-name verification, do not apply to it; those cover .cn and .中国. The registry of names under cn.com is kept by CentralNic. For a genuinely Chinese address, choose .cn or .com.cn.

Want to connect your .cn domain to your LJPc hosting and stuck somewhere? Create a support ticket and we will help you out.