A professional website, a verified badge on a trading platform and a friendly sales manager prove nothing about the company behind them. Every legally operating company in mainland China is registered with the state, and that registration is public. Checking it takes less time than reading a quotation, and it is the single cheapest way to avoid the most expensive mistakes.

Start with the business licence

Ask the supplier for a copy of its business licence (营业执照). A legitimate company sends it without hesitation. A supplier that delays, refuses or sends a blurred image has already told you something.

The licence shows five things worth checking:

  • The Unified Social Credit Code (统一社会信用代码): an 18-character ID unique to the company. This is what you look up.
  • The registered Chinese name. Only the Chinese name is legal. The English name on the website is a trading name with no legal standing.
  • The legal representative (法定代表人): the person legally accountable for the company.
  • The date of establishment.
  • The business scope (经营范围): what the company is permitted to do. More on this in our article on manufacturers and trading companies.

Look it up in the official registry

The authoritative source is the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (国家企业信用信息公示系统), run by the Chinese market regulator. Search by the credit code or the full Chinese name. The interface is in Chinese, and the site can be slow or restrict access from outside China.

Commercial databases such as Qichacha (企查查) and Tianyancha (天眼查) draw on the same public data and present it more clearly, with court records and ownership links in one place. They are useful, but treat the official registry as the final word.

What must match

Compare the registry entry with everything the supplier has sent you:

  1. The Chinese name on the licence, the registry, the contract and the proforma invoice must be identical, character for character.
  2. The bank account you are asked to pay must be in the name of that same company. A payment request to a personal account, a different company or an offshore entity is the most serious warning sign in this entire article.
  3. The address on the licence should match the address the supplier gives as its factory or office. If it doesn't, ask why.
  4. The status must read as operating (存续 or 在业). Deregistered, revoked or “abnormal” statuses are reasons to stop.

Red flags in the registry

  • A very recent establishment date for a supplier that claims years of experience or large export volumes.
  • Listing on the Abnormal Operations List (经营异常名录), often for failing to file annual reports or being unreachable at the registered address.
  • Enforcement records or a listing as a dishonest judgment debtor (失信被执行人). These appear on the courts' enforcement disclosure platform and in the commercial databases.
  • Frequent changes of legal representative, shareholders or address in a short period.
  • A business scope with no connection to the product you are buying.

What the registry cannot tell you

A clean registry entry means the company exists and has no public black marks. It does not mean the company makes your product, has the capacity for your order, or will deliver the quality you expect. Registered capital is also a weak signal: under Chinese company law it is capital shareholders have committed, not necessarily capital they have paid in.

That is why a registry check is the first step, not the last. The next steps are confirming that the supplier actually manufactures what it sells, verifying its certificates with the issuing bodies, and seeing the factory, in person or through someone you trust.

The five-minute version

Before you send any deposit: get the licence, look up the credit code, confirm the Chinese name matches the bank account, and check that the status is active with no enforcement records. If any of these fails, stop and ask questions.