Online Business in China
be to have a chance to exist in China.
Otherwise, you don’t exist.
The Chinese internet is an isolated, dynamic, and competitive ecosystem that requires a completely different approach to company marketing compared to the West.
It is absolutely essential to implement even basic marketing principles and tools specific to the Great Firewall and design strategies based on local applications. These efforts must, of course, be tailored in form and content to Chinese culture and the Chinese consumer. Without a presence on key platforms such as WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, or Weibo, even the most well-known brand can go unnoticed by Chinese consumers.
Foreign companies without a legal entity in China face additional challenges when attempting to independently build a website or create corporate social media accounts. According to Chinese law, only a Chinese legal entity can apply for domain hosting, an ICP license, or register social media accounts. The solution is to either establish a company in China or use the license of an existing Chinese company.
Internet users in China
A company planning to establish a presence on the Chinese internet should consider showcasing itself in the following areas:
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No, it cannot. In China, local hosting of websites created by a foreign company is only possible if the company owns its own a WOFE (wholly foreign-owned enterprise) or designates another Chinese company (legal entity) to which the domain and ICP license are assigned. In other words, a foreign company without these attributes cannot host a website in China.
Under Chinese commercial law, it is mandatory to designate a Chinese entity or a WOFE (wholly foreign-owned enterprise, equivalent to a limited liability company 100% owned by foreign capital) to handle many formalities related to launching a website.
Registering a .cn domain, obtaining local hosting, and acquiring an ICP license—essential for publishing a website—all require the involvement of a local company.
A company or individual based abroad will not be able to launch a website without owning or borrowing a local Chinese company.
ICP (Internet Content Provider) is a number under which a website is registered in the Chinese registry of online content creators. Every website must be submitted to this registry before publication, and only after obtaining an ICP number can it be made public. The ICP number is always displayed at the bottom of websites hosted locally in China.
To obtain an ICP certificate (i.e., permission to publish a website in China), an application must be submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). It is important to note that only companies registered in China, such as local firms or a WOFEs (wholly foreign-owned enterprises, equivalent to limited liability companies 100% owned by foreign capital), are eligible to apply for an ICP certificate.
It’s true that Google is unavailable in China. All of the company’s popular services are blocked. The same applies to Facebook. However, the Chinese have numerous local apps whose functionalities overlap with those of well-known Western applications.
The most popular search engine is Baidu. Additionally, WeChat’s search engine is gaining increasing popularity, especially for mobile searches.