How to Verify a Chinese Business License (Step by Step)

The fastest way to verify a Chinese business license takes about thirty minutes. Ask the supplier for a scan, validate the 18-digit Unified Social Credit Code with a free checksum tool, search that code on China's official registry at gsxt.gov.cn, and compare every field on the license against the registry record. Then read the business scope: it tells you whether the company is licensed to manufacture anything at all.

Most importers never get that far. The license arrives as a photo in a chat, the red stamp looks official, and the document gets filed away. That is a mistake. A Chinese business license is one of the few documents in sourcing that can be tested against a government database: the license is registry-backed, while brochures and capability decks are self-published. CN Ally's factory audit service runs this check as the first step of every on-site verification.

Step 1: Get the license from your supplier

You cannot verify a document you do not have. Ask directly, in the same message where you ask for a quotation:

"Please send a clear photo or scan of your business license (营业执照) with the Unified Social Credit Code visible. We need it for our vendor records."

A legitimate company sends it in minutes. It is a public-facing document; the core fields are published in a public registry anyway. How the supplier responds is itself data:

• Sends it immediately. The normal outcome. Proceed to Step 2.
• Sends it with fields blurred "for privacy." The name, code, legal representative, and scope are public records at gsxt.gov.cn. A supplier hiding public information is hiding something, or is disorganized. Either way, note it.
• Refuses to send it. You are done with this supplier. This is a disqualifying signal, not a negotiation.
• Delays for days. Compare the license against the registry with extra attention, particularly the establishment date.

If the supplier sells through Alibaba or 1688, pull the license from the platform's qualification section too. It is harder to doctor a platform-hosted document, and it gives you something to diff against whatever the supplier sends by email.

Step 2: Validate the 18-digit code in ten seconds

Every Chinese entity carries exactly one Unified Social Credit Code, 18 characters long, assigned at registration and fixed for the company's life. Under the GB 32100-2015 national standard, the code is self-validating: the first character indicates the registration authority category (9 for enterprises), positions 3 through 8 encode the administrative division where the company was registered (440300 is Shenzhen, 330100 is Hangzhou), and the final character is a check digit computed from the other seventeen.

The practical meaning: a forged license whose code has been edited almost always fails the check digit. Free online tools test the code in seconds; a search for "USCC check digit validator" turns them up. Paste the code from the license. If it does not validate, the document has been altered, and the verification ends here.

Two more code-level reads before you leave this step. Check the division digits: if the supplier insists the factory is in Ningbo but positions 3 through 8 place the registration in a province they never mention, that is a question to resolve, not a detail to shrug at. And remember that a code can validate mathematically while resolving to a different company in the registry, which means the forger borrowed a real code from someone else's license. Step 3 catches that.

Step 3: Search the code on the official registry

The authoritative source is the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System at gsxt.gov.cn, operated by the State Administration for Market Regulation. It is free. Search the 18-digit code, or the exact Chinese company name if you have it.

What to pull from the registry record: 经营状态 (business status) should read 存续 or 在业 (active); 吊销 (revoked) or 注销 (deregistered) ends the conversation. Check 经营异常名录 (abnormal operations list) for flags from missing annual reports or unverifiable addresses, and 严重违法失信 / 行政处罚 (dishonesty blacklist and administrative penalties) for patterns. Then pull the full registration details: company name, legal representative, registered capital, business scope, establishment date, registered address. Every one of these should match the license scan field for field.

A note on access: gsxt.gov.cn can be slow or finicky from overseas connections, and some detailed views ask for a mainland mobile number. Commercial mirrors like Qichacha and Tianyancha carry the same government data with faster interfaces and English-capable apps; they are fine for the field comparison, but gsxt is the system of record when anything disagrees.

Step 4: Scan the QR code on the license

Licenses issued in recent years carry a QR code, usually in the bottom corner. Scanning it, commonly with WeChat or Alipay, takes you to the company's live registry record. Under Article 33 of the revised Company Law, effective July 1, 2024, an electronic business license has the same legal effect as the paper one. (The published English translation of the revised Company Law confirms this; see the FDI China translation.)

The QR code defeats the commonest class of forgery: the altered scan. A forger can change text on a PDF, but a fake QR code that points at the wrong record fails in front of you. If the QR does not scan, or scans to a different company, treat it like a failed check digit.

Step 5: Read the license field by field

Once the license passes the authenticity tests, read what it actually says. A standard license has nine fields that matter to a buyer. Each gets a short decoding below.

Unified Social Credit Code (统一社会信用代码)

Covered in Step 2. It is the key that unlocks everything else; enter it into the registry and the entity's filings, shareholder records, annual reports, and trademark portfolio become visible.

Company name (企业名称)

Chinese company names follow a legal formula: region plus chosen name plus industry word plus organization form. In 深圳市×××实业有限公司: the region (深圳市 = Shenzhen) is where the company is registered, so compare it with the factory address they claim. The industry word (实业 / 贸易 / 科技 / 电子) is a hint, nothing more: 实业 suggests manufacturing, 贸易 (trading) states trading outright, 科技 (technology) is the favorite label of companies that are neither. The organization form (有限公司 = limited company, 厂 = factory, often a sole proprietorship) matters because sole-proprietorship factories carry unlimited owner liability and looser paperwork discipline.

The name is a hint; the business scope below is the verdict.

Legal representative (法定代表人)

The natural person who can bind the company in contracts, customs declarations, and tax filings. Your sales contact is usually not this person, and that is normal. Three things matter. The name on the bank account you wire to must be the company name, never a personal account. A beneficiary name that does not match the licensed entity is where most payment fraud lives. If the legal representative of your "factory" is also the legal representative of a dozen unrelated companies, the registry is showing you a nominee or shell structure. And a legal representative who changes every year is worth a closer look at the filing history.

Registered capital (注册资本)

The most misread field on the document. Since the 2014 registration reform, most industries have no paid-in requirement. The number on the license is usually 认缴 (subscribed): a promise of capital, not a bank balance. Five million yuan of subscribed capital can legally coexist with zero paid in.

The reading changed under the revised Company Law effective July 1, 2024. Shareholders of limited liability companies must now pay their subscribed capital in full within five years of the company's establishment; companies registered before that date have until June 30, 2027 to align older schedules with the new rule. Do not be impressed by big numbers, and do not dismiss a capable factory for a small one. A ¥100,000 registered capital on a firm claiming tens of millions in annual exports means the working capital comes from somewhere else, and that is worth one question.

Company type and business term (公司类型 / 营业期限)

有限责任公司 (limited liability company) is the standard form for private Chinese firms. Note the term: licenses marked 长期 (long-term) are normal; a business term expiring next year deserves a question before you commit to a production run that lands after it.

Business scope (经营范围): the most important field on the document

This is the line that settles the factory-versus-trader question, which sits behind a large share of sourcing disappointment. The scope is the list of activities the company is legally permitted to conduct, split into general items (一般项目) and items requiring separate approval (许可项目).

Scope contains · Meaning

• 生产 / 制造 (production / manufacturing): The company is licensed to make things
• 销售 / 批发 (sales / wholesale): Licensed to sell, only
• 货物进出口 (import and export of goods): Can clear customs in its own name, or arrange it
• Unrelated financial or service words: Unrelated scope means unrelated risk

A company whose scope contains only 销售/批发 with no 生产/制造 is a trading company, whatever the storefront badges claim. That is not automatically bad. Good trading companies earn their margin with sourcing muscle, quality control, and English-speaking staff. But you deserve to know what you are paying, and factory prices should not silently become trader prices. (Many legitimate exporters manufacture under a related factory entity while quoting through a trading arm; the FAQ below covers what to do about it.)

Note that the absence of 进出口 (import/export) on the scope does not mean the supplier cannot export. It means they clear through a customs agent, a normal arrangement worth folding into your understanding of who the exporter of record is.

Registered address (住所)

The official registered office. It is not necessarily where anything operational happens, and reading it as the factory location is a frequent error. A company registered at a co-working space while claiming a 100-person factory is an inconsistency to resolve before relying on the factory claim.

Establishment date (成立日期)

The registry does not lie about age; websites do. A company registered in 2024 quoting fifteen years of factory history is telling a story. A company registered three months ago asking for a 50 percent deposit carries maximum counterparty risk with zero track record: small trial order, tighter payment terms, third-party inspection as non-negotiable.

Step 6: Run the four-name check

After the license decodes cleanly, collect these four names: the company name on the business license; the company name on the marketplace storefront's qualification page; the bank account name on the invoice you are asked to wire to; the company name on the export declaration (ask; the supplier knows).

All four should be the same legal entity, or connected through entities visible in the registry: shared legal representative, shared registered address, a documented parent-subsidiary link. The wire is where fraud lives: if the beneficiary name does not match the contract entity, the wire does not leave. Our payment safety guide covers how to verify supplier bank details before wiring.

Seven tells of a doctored license

Any single item is a question. Two or more is an answer.

Tell · What you see · Why it matters

• Checksum failure: The USCC does not validate · The code was edited; the document is fabricated
• Blurred or hidden fields: "Privacy" redactions on public fields · The company is hiding what the registry publishes freely
• Capital-age mismatch: ¥10M capital, registered six weeks ago · Shell topology; paper ambition with no history
• Scope-location mismatch: Manufacturing scope, registered at a residential compound or office tower · Licensed on paper, producing nowhere
• Story-date mismatch: "15-year factory," license issued in 2024 · Someone is rewriting history
• QR failure: QR does not scan or points elsewhere · The document did not come from the issuing authority
• Serial legal rep: One person fronts a dozen unrelated companies · Nominee structure; accountability is thin

What the license cannot tell you

The license answers who. The registry answers whether they have a record. A factory audit answers whether they can make your product. A pre-shipment inspection answers whether this shipment meets the spec. Each layer catches what the previous one cannot.

Frequently asked questions

Can I verify a Chinese business license without reading Chinese?

Yes. The GSXT registry search works with the 18-digit code alone. Commercial mirrors like Qichacha and Tianyancha have English-capable apps. The license fields are standardized, so a one-time mapping of the nine fields above against a scan is enough; a translation app camera on a phone reads the rest.

Does the red stamp mean the license is real?

No. The stamp is the easiest element to fake and the one buyers trust most, which is exactly why it should carry the least weight. Forged licenses usually get the stamp right and the check digit wrong. Trust the checksum and the registry, not the ink.

What if the supplier only gives me the company name, not the license?

That is enough to start. Search the exact Chinese name on gsxt.gov.cn or a commercial mirror and cross-check what you find against what the supplier told you. Then ask for the license anyway: a real company reluctant to show its license is still telling you something.

The license is real but the scope says trading, and they claim to be a factory. Now what?

Ask where production happens and which entity invoices you. Many legitimate exporters run sales through a trading entity while manufacturing sits under a related factory company. Ask for the factory company's name and run the same verification on it. If the supplier will not name the producer, you are buying from a trader at trader prices and should negotiate as such.

Is one license check enough for a large order?

No. License verification is the identity layer. For order values that would hurt to lose, add an on-site or video factory audit, reference checks with other buyers, staged payment tied to inspection results, and a pre-shipment inspection on the first run. Our 12-point supplier verification checklist walks the full sequence.

Your next move: make this a thirty-minute habit

Run the protocol on every new supplier before the first deposit, not just the ones that feel risky. The ones that feel risky usually are; the expensive failures come from the ones that felt fine. Request the scan, validate the code, search the registry, read the fields, run the four-name check. Thirty minutes, roughly zero cost.

If the registry work in a language you do not read feels like friction, or the license raises questions you want answered on the ground, talk to us or write to hi@cnally.com. Verifying suppliers before money moves is the core of what a sourcing partner is for, and it is cheaper than every alternative.