Knowledge we use every week
These guides explain the concepts and sources behind our reports: the official GSXT registry, the USCC code, the Chinese registered capital system, the business scope that separates a factory from a trader and the checks that protect the moment of payment. They are evergreen guides: we review and update them periodically instead of publishing news that expires. Use them to run a first check on your own. Where the view from outside ends, our work begins.
How to verify a Chinese company step by step
The full walkthrough of GSXT, the official Chinese business registry: what you need before you start, how to search, what every field means and where the free lookup ends.
Read the guide →Key conceptRegistered vs paid in capital
Why a Chinese company can declare 10 million in capital while having contributed a fraction of it, what changed with the 2014 reform and the new 2024 Company Law, and how to check.
Read the guide →Key conceptWhat is the USCC and how to use it
The Unified Social Credit Code is the ID card of Chinese companies: 18 characters that identify your supplier without ambiguity. What each part means and which mistakes it exposes.
Read the guide →Key conceptDoes a Chinese company have a VAT number?
Finance asks for the supplier VAT number and there is no such thing. Which code replaces it, where it appears in the paperwork, why VIES does not cover China and how to check it is real.
Read the guide →Practical guideFactory or trading company?
Workshop photos prove nothing. The registered business scope answers it in thirty seconds: which verbs indicate production, which secondary signals corroborate, and which check stopped working in 2022.
Read the guide →Practical guideBefore you hit send
The account holder must match the Chinese legal name. Why paying a different entity can leave you owing the order twice, the four requests that should stop the transfer and how redirected invoice fraud works.
Read the guide →Every guide is based on official Chinese sources (GSXT, China Judgments Online) and on the experience of our network of licensed lawyers in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou. We review them quarterly and correct them when the rules change, as happened with the new Chinese Company Law in force since July 2024.