How to Read a Chinese Business Licence (Before You Wire Money)

Every Chinese company has a business licence (营业执照). Once you know where to look, it takes two minutes to read, and it answers the first question in any supplier check: is this the company that will make and sell you the goods, and is it the one you're about to pay?

The fields, top to bottom

Field	What it is	What to check
统一社会信用代码 Unified Social Credit Code	The company's 18-character national ID	Look it up on GSXT; it must match the contract and proforma invoice
名称 Name	The registered Chinese name	Must match the invoice beneficiary and bank account holder exactly. English names are not registered
类型 Type	The legal form	See the company types below
法定代表人 / 经营者 Legal representative or operator	The person who legally represents the company	Useful if you later need to escalate
经营范围 Business scope	What the company is permitted to do	Production terms such as 生产, 制造 or 加工 for a manufacturer
注册资本 Registered capital	Capital the owners subscribed	Compare with paid-in capital in the annual report
成立日期 Date of establishment	When it was registered	Does it fit the years of experience they claim?
营业期限 Term of operation (older licences)	Revised licence formats issued since September 2022 omit this field	Check the current status on GSXT
住所 Registered address	The legal address	Compare with the factory location
登记机关 Registration authority	The local market regulation bureau, with the date and red seal	Location should fit the address
QR code	Links to the company's official record	Scan it, and make sure it opens gsxt.gov.cn, not a look-alike site

Decode the 18-character credit code

• Character 1: the registering authority; 9 means the market regulation (business registration) system.
• Character 2: the entity category; under 9, a 1 identifies an enterprise and a 2 an individual business. Confirm the legal form in the Type field.
• Characters 3–8: the administrative area where it was registered. 330782, for example, is Yiwu in Zhejiang.
• Characters 9–17: the organisation's identifier.
• Character 18: a check character.

So a code starting 91330782 identifies an enterprise assigned a code by the Yiwu registration authority. If a supplier says it's a Guangdong factory and its code points to a Zhejiang city, ask why.

Company types you will meet

• 有限责任公司, limited liability company: most factories and trading companies.
• 股份有限公司, company limited by shares: usually larger businesses.
• 个体工商户, individual business: very common for Yiwu market booths. The owner is personally liable, and these businesses usually trade internationally through a trading company or an agent. Not a red flag for small market purchases, but know who you're actually paying.
• 分公司, branch: not a separate legal entity. Check the head company's licence too.

Reading business scope properly

• A manufacturer's scope names production in its category, for example 日用塑料制品制造 (manufacture of daily-use plastic products).
• A trading company's scope lists sales and import-export, for example 日用百货销售 and 货物进出口.
• Scope doesn't list every product, but a company whose scope has no production at all, while claiming to be the factory, owes you an explanation.
• Since China amended its Foreign Trade Law at the end of 2022, registered companies no longer need a separate foreign-trade operator filing to export. They still need customs registration to declare exports.

Five checks that catch most problems

1. Look up the credit code on GSXT, and confirm the status is active (存续 or 在业).
2. The name on the licence, the proforma invoice and the bank account are identical.
3. The establishment date fits the story they tell.
4. The scope fits their claim to be a factory or a trader.
5. The company isn't on the abnormal operations list, and its annual reports are filed.

The full process, including certificates, test reports and payment, is in how to verify a Chinese supplier before paying a deposit.

What a licence does not prove

A licence proves the company exists. It doesn't prove capacity, quality, ownership of the factory you were shown, or that the person messaging you works there. And a licence image can be edited, so always verify it against GSXT rather than trusting the picture.

FAQ

Is GSXT available in English? No. Search by the credit code and use your browser's translation; most fields are easy to follow.

The supplier won't send its licence. Is that normal? No. Legitimate companies share it routinely; refusing is a reason to stop.

Can I safely buy from an individual business? For small market orders, yes, ideally through an agent who exports for you and checks the goods before they ship.

Want the licence, factory and bank details checked for you? Our supplier verification service gives you a written verdict before you pay.