Insights · 2026-10-10

The four official records to check a Chinese company, in one place

Every serious supplier check runs through the same four public records. This page lines them up in one list, says what each can and cannot answer, and shows what to write down while you are in there.

The four records, in one table

Every supplier check runs on the same four public records. What varies is how much weight each one can carry, so it helps to see them side by side before you start.

One deliberate omission: this page names the systems but does not link to them. Portals move, mirrors imitate them, and a screenshot of the wrong site proves nothing. The current entry points are kept on one maintained page instead - see the official records entry page.

Unified Social Credit Code (USCC): where every lookup starts

The USCC is the 18-character code printed on the business licence, and every other record is keyed to it. Names collide; codes do not. Two firms can share a name down to the district, and only the code tells them apart.

So the first discipline is boring but decisive: get the Chinese registered name and the USCC, and carry them through every lookup that follows. If a supplier hesitates to hand over the code, that itself is information. The similar names article shows what happens when people skip this step.

The master registry (gsxt): read it in this order

The publicity system is the master registry. Read it in a fixed order: registration status first - "in operation" is not the same as "cancelled" or "revoked" - then the legal representative, then the establishment date, then the business scope, where "manufacturing" and "trading" are different businesses.

Two fields mislead more than the rest. Registered capital is usually subscribed, not paid in; the annual filings say which. And one registered address can host dozens of firms that have never made anything. The annual report numbers article goes through both fields in detail.

Enforcement records (zxgk): who owes whom

The enforcement network answers a different question: not "does the company exist" but "does it pay". A judgment document, a live enforcement case, a dishonest-debtor listing and a consumption restriction on the legal representative are four different records with four different weights - being sued is ordinary, not paying after a court ruling is not.

If a name does show up, do not close the file: ask the supplier about the case and listen to how the answer is built. How the four court records differ is explained on the official records entry page.

Market supervision (scjdgl): licences and penalties

The market supervision authorities hold two more layers: administrative licences for controlled categories, and administrative penalties together with their reasons. A factory exporting food-contact products without the licence its category requires is not a cheaper option - it is a different kind of risk.

Spot-check results are published too. One clean result proves little, but a pattern of failed inspections is one of the clearest signals a public record can give.

What no public portal will tell you

The four records settle identity, status and payment discipline. They will not tell you whether the "factory" is one room above a workshop, whether the production line exists, or whether the workers are on the company's own payroll. Those answers only come from specific questions - which line, which floor, whose workers - asked at the right moment.

The verification guide turns that gap into a question list, and the glossary keeps the terms straight while you ask.

Log date, source, result

Half the value of a check is the conclusion. The other half is knowing when and where that conclusion came from.

Whatever you find - or fail to find - write down the date, the portal and the result, and keep a screenshot. Public records change; a note without a date cannot be replayed. If you would rather hand the lookups to someone who runs them every day, order a verification report: we retrieve the records, translate what matters and deliver a structured report in 2-5 days.