July 18th, 2026 shadmin
A .cn domain signals to Chinese users, and to Baidu, that your site is legitimately built for the local market. It also tends to perform better in local search results than a generic .com. The process is more paperwork-heavy than registering a Western domain, but it’s manageable if you know the steps. Here’s what’s involved.
1. Confirm Your Eligibility
Foreign companies can register .cn domains — this restriction was lifted years ago — but you’ll need to go through a registrar that supports international applicants and be prepared to submit business verification documents. Individual (non-business) registrations are generally not available to foreign applicants.
2. Choose an Accredited Registrar
Not every domain registrar handles .cn registrations. You’ll need one accredited by CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Centre) or a partner reseller that works with foreign businesses. Look for a registrar experienced specifically with foreign applicants, since the verification process differs from domestic registrations.
3. Prepare Your Business Documentation
Chinese domain registration requires real-name verification. As a foreign business, you’ll typically need:
- A copy of your company’s business registration/incorporation certificate
- Notarized or apostilled translation of that certificate into Chinese (requirements vary by registrar)
- A copy of the authorized applicant’s passport or ID
- A completed domain registration application form
Some registrars can help facilitate translation and notarization as part of the registration package.
4. Submit Your Application
Once your documents are ready, your registrar submits them along with your desired domain name for CNNIC review. Unlike .com registrations, .cn domains go through a manual verification process rather than instant activation.
5. Wait for Verification
Approval typically takes a few business days, though it can take longer if additional documentation is requested. Common causes of delay include mismatched company names between documents, missing notarization, or an registrar unfamiliar with foreign paperwork.
6. Complete ICP Filing (If Hosting in China)
Registering the domain and hosting in mainland China are two separate processes. If you plan to host your site on mainland servers, you’ll also need to complete an ICP filing tied to that domain — a separate step with its own documentation requirements. If you’re hosting outside mainland China (e.g., Hong Kong), ICP filing generally isn’t required, but the domain purchase process itself remains the same.
7. Set Up DNS and Launch
Once the domain is approved and active, you can point it to your hosting provider like any other domain — updating nameservers or A records as needed. If this domain will run alongside an existing site (e.g., a .com), plan your redirect and localization strategy at this stage rather than after launch.
The .cn registration process takes longer than a typical domain purchase due to the verification requirements, so it’s worth starting well ahead of your planned launch date. Working with a registrar experienced in handling foreign business applications is the biggest factor in avoiding delays.
Posted in Domain Names | No Comments »
July 18th, 2026 shadmin
Launching a website aimed at users in mainland China is a fundamentally different exercise than launching one for a global or Western audience. Many foreign companies apply their standard playbook and end up with a site that’s slow, invisible, or even inaccessible to the audience they’re trying to reach. Here are the most common mistakes — and how to avoid them.
1. Hosting Outside Mainland China (Without a CDN Workaround)
The single biggest factor in site performance for Chinese users is server location. Hosting on a U.S. or European server means every request has to cross international gateways, which are often congested and subject to inspection delays. The result is slow load times, timeouts, and higher bounce rates.
Fix: Host on a mainland China server (with proper ICP licensing) or use a China-based CDN to cache and serve content closer to your users. If this is not possible, host your website in Hong Kong.
2. Not Understanding the ICP License Requirement
Any website hosted on servers physically located in mainland China is legally required to have an ICP (Internet Content Provider) filing or license. Skipping this isn’t just a compliance risk — unlicensed sites hosted in China can be taken offline entirely.
Fix: Either obtain an ICP filing through a licensed local partner, or host outside mainland China (e.g., Hong Kong) and accept a small performance tradeoff.
3. Assuming Google Tools Will Work
Google Analytics, Google Fonts, Google Maps, YouTube embeds, and Google-hosted JavaScript libraries are blocked or unreliable in China. If your site depends on these, large chunks of it may fail to load — or load so slowly that the whole page stalls.
Fix: Use locally accessible alternatives (Baidu Analytics, self-hosted fonts, Tencent Maps) or self-host key resources instead of pulling them from blocked domains.
4. Treating Translation as Localization
A word-for-word Chinese translation of an English site often feels foreign to local users. Layout conventions, color meanings, trust signals, and even preferred content density differ between Western and Chinese audiences.
Fix: Invest in proper localization — not just translation — including design, imagery, and tone that resonate with local users.
5. Ignoring Baidu SEO
Optimizing only for Google SEO means missing the search engine that actually matters in China. Baidu has different ranking factors, including a strong preference for ICP-licensed, mainland-hosted sites and simplified Chinese content.
Fix: Build a separate SEO strategy for Baidu, including meta tags, site structure, and hosting choices tailored to its crawler and ranking system.
6. Missing Local Payment and Social Integrations
If you’re selling anything, offering only Visa/Mastercard or PayPal will exclude a huge share of Chinese consumers, who overwhelmingly use Alipay and WeChat Pay. Similarly, a site with no WeChat presence misses one of the most important trust and discovery channels in the market.
Fix: Integrate local payment gateways and consider a WeChat Official Account or mini-program alongside your website.
7. Not Testing Real-World Accessibility
Many companies launch a China-facing site without ever checking how it actually performs from within mainland China — relying instead on how it looks from their home office.
Fix: Use in-country testing tools to check load times, blocked resources, and overall accessibility before and after launch.
Getting a China-facing website right means rethinking hosting, compliance, SEO, and localization together — not treating China as an afterthought bolted onto an existing global site. Getting these fundamentals right from day one will save significant time, cost, and frustration down the road.
Posted in China Hosting | No Comments »
September 15th, 2025 shadmin
Over the past two weeks, SinoHosting has been the target of a large-scale Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, which significantly impacted access to our main website and DNS servers. This malicious activity resulted in restricted access to client servers and hosted websites.
We are pleased to report that the attack has now been successfully mitigated, and services are gradually returning to normal. We are actively working with cybersecurity authorities in both China and Hong Kong to investigate the source and nature of the incident.
We sincerely apologize for the disruption this has caused to our clients’ operations. Further updates will be provided as the investigation progresses and additional measures are implemented to strengthen our infrastructure.
Thank you for your continued trust and understanding.
SinoHosting Management Team
Cycom Hong Kong Limited
Posted in Service Update | Comments Off on Cybersecurity Incident Notification
December 19th, 2023 shadmin
Due to our datacenter terminating the server HK4 in error, we will need to re-create all accounts on that server on a new one. Unfortunately the termination happened during our overnight backup window, effectively corrupting all our backups. While we may be able retrieve some data from historical backups, clients should be prepared to restore their own websites and re-create their email accounts on the new server.
All affected users will be receiving their new access details in thext 24-48 hours. If you do not, please open a ticket to the Support department. If you have your own full cpmove backup available, please contact us so that we can work on restoring the account to the new server.
We apologize for this issue which has caused services to be offline over the last few days and would like to stress the importance of downloading your own backups from cPanel regularly as per our terms of services.
The Management
SinoHosting.net
Posted in Service Update | Comments Off on Server HK4 Emergency Migration
November 22nd, 2023 shadmin
We are happy to announce that our suspension of bank transfers in China has come to an end and we are again able to offer bank transfer as payment option for our mainland China customers. Clients in mainland China will be able to pay in Chinese Yuans (RMB) to our corporate account in Shanghai (with CITIC Bank) and also request an official tax invoice (Fapiao) for that payment.
Please note that for all payments of less than RMB1,000, we will be charging a RMB20 additional fee to cover for the delivery of the Fapiao to by Shunfeng Express to your address in China.
The fapiao request has also been simplified and can be done directly by opening a ticket to our billing department. We are working on launching a form for Fapiao requests in the near future.
The Management
SinoHosting.net
Posted in Company News, Service Update | Comments Off on Bank transfers now available in mainland China
May 19th, 2023 shadmin
Due to recent changes in regulations on cross border intra-company transactions and transfer pricing regulations in China, the option to pay invoices to our Shanghai company account at CITIC bank is temporarily suspended. Clients in mainland China will need to pay their invoices through our Alipay account only, or make a wire transfer to our bank account in Hong Kong directly.
Sinohosting will also stop issuing tax invoices (fapiaos) until further notice, as the company is operated from Hong Kong.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
The Management
Cycom China Limited
Posted in Company News | Comments Off on Suspension of bank transfer payment options for mainland China customers
February 9th, 2020 shadmin
As part of our continuous infrastructure improvement, clients on our Aberdeen and Olympic servers in Hong Kong have now been moved to a new server. The IP address has changed and all concerned clients will receive details by email directly.
All migrated users will notice an increase in performance due to higher memory at the new server, as well as a better email deliverability.
For clients who have their domain names registered with SinoHosting, we would have updated the DNS to point to the new server already. If not, please make sure to update your DNS to ns15.sinohosting.net/ns16.sinohosting.net as soon as possible.
We thank you for your understanding on this matter. Please open a support ticket if you experience any issue with your website and we will make sure to assist you promptly.
The Management
SinoHosting.net
Posted in General | Comments Off on Server Change Notification – Hong Kong users
September 21st, 2019 shadmin
In response to the increasing delays of our existing ICP license application process, and the growing backlog of existing applicants, we have been working on finding new ways to speed up this process and have our clients website obtain this license in a shorter period. We are happy to announce today the launch of a streamlined application process in partnership with a new datacenter provider in Shanghai, through which licenses can be approved in as few as 10-15 days after receipt of valid documents.
Going forward, ICP license application would follow the process below:
1) Clients receive the link to download the ICP license application package once they place the order through our website.
2) Read the procedures and prepare all required documents.
3) After filling the forms, they will send the scanned files back to our ICP department for confirmation.
4) Within 24h we will confirm whether everything is done properly, after which the original documents can be sent to the provided address.
The contact person, who must be a Chinese national, will need to come to our datacenter provider address to take a photo as per the requirements. Other alternatives are explained in the ICP application package.
Unfortunately, in order to move forward with the new system, we will not be able to process any outstanding application. Please resubmit a new application if you have not yet obtained an ICP license so that we can start to work on it immediately.
Existing clients who have further questions are welcome to open a ticket to our ICP department through our portal.
The Management
SinoHosting.net
Posted in China Hosting, Service Update | Comments Off on New ICP License Application Process
September 4th, 2019 shadmin
Due to a hardware failure at our server central.sinohosting.net in Hong Kong over last week end, followed by unsuccessful attempts for system recovery, a replacement server has been set up and all hosted clients on the central server migrated to that new server (with new IP address). If you using our DNS and were previously hosted on the central server, you do not need to do anything as our DNS were updated to the new IPs and your website should load automatically from the new location.
If you use your own DNS, please contact our support team to obtain the new server IP to manually point to that address.
We apologize for any downtime or inconvenience experienced over the last few days. Any affected client is requested to open a support ticket with our billing department to request a RMB100 downtime credit which will be automatically deducted from any future purchase or renewal invoice.
The Management
SinoHosting.net
Posted in Service Update | Comments Off on IP Address Change – Server Central
July 24th, 2018 shadmin
As part of the ongoing consolidation of our parent company Cycom Hong Kong brands, we are happy to announce that we have finalized the acquisition of HostMacau.com, as well as the consolidation of all HostMacau clients on our platform.
HostMacau clients should not see any change in their services since their server remain the same. The only change is that at their next billing they will be invoiced by SinoHosting instead of HostMacau. Also, for support issues, they will now need to contact or open support tickets with SinoHosting.
Through the acquision of HostMacau, SinoHosting has now added Macau to the list of its servers location. As a launching promotion, the company is offering six additional months for free for all new shared hosting orders on that location.
For any question regarding this migration, please send an email to migration@cycom.com.hk ; you can also open a support ticket with SinoHosting.net
The Management
SinoHosting.net
www.sinohosting.net
Posted in Company News | Comments Off on SinoHosting completes the acquision of HostMacau clients
