How do I read a Chinese business license?
A Chinese business license (营业执照) is the registration certificate issued by the local market regulation bureau. It shows nine things: the company's registered name, its Unified Social Credit Code, its type, its legal representative, its registered capital, its address, its business scope, its date of establishment and the bureau that registered it. It does not show whether the company is still in good standing today; that lives in the register.
The nine fields, top to bottom
| Chinese | English | what it means for a buyer |
|---|---|---|
| 统一社会信用代码 | Unified Social Credit Code (USCC) | the identifier; use it, not the name, for every lookup |
| 名称 | registered name | the legal name in Chinese; the only name the register knows |
| 类型 | company type | 有限责任公司 = limited liability company; 股份有限公司 = joint-stock company; the bracket after it says who owns it (natural persons, a legal-person shareholder, foreign investment) |
| 法定代表人 | legal representative | the person who signs for the company; not necessarily the owner |
| 注册资本 | registered capital | the amount shareholders have committed, not cash on hand (see the registered vs paid-in capital entry) |
| 住所 | registered address | the registered domicile; a factory may be at another address |
| 经营范围 | business scope | what the company is registered to do; items marked 许可项目 need a separate permit, items marked 一般项目 do not |
| 成立日期 | date of establishment | when the registration was made |
| 登记机关 | registration authority | the market regulation bureau holding the record |
Since 2022 the same nine items are what the law requires on the license. Older licenses may also show an operating term (营业期限). Electronic licenses carry a QR code that opens the register entry.
What the license does not tell you
- Status. Whether the company is active, has been struck off, or is on the business-abnormality list is recorded in the register, not on the paper. A license photo from 2019 says nothing about 2026.
- Manufacturer or trader. The business scope lists what the company may do, not what it does. A scope that includes both "manufacture" and "import and export" is common for both factories and trading companies.
- Certificates. None appear on the license. They live with the bodies that issued them.
- Who you are dealing with. The name on the license must match the name on the quotation, the contract and the bank account. A different name is a different company, even in the same building.
Reading the scope
Business scopes were standardised in 2021. They now read as two lists: licensed items (许可项目), which the company may only carry out with the named permit, and general items (一般项目), which it may carry out on registration alone. "Manufacture of household electrical appliances" in the general list means the company is registered to manufacture; it does not prove a production line.
What Clacta does
Clacta shows the registered name, the USCC, the type, the registered capital, the date of establishment and the registration authority from the register itself, together with the status as of the date read. The English display name is shown beside the registered Chinese name, never instead of it.
Sources
- Implementing Rules of the Regulation on the Administration of Registration of Market Entities (市场主体登记管理条例实施细则), State Administration for Market Regulation Order No. 52, in force 1 March 2022, article 23
- National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, operated by SAMR, for the current status of any registered entity
Data as of 2026-09-13 · Last reviewed 2026-09-13
Cross-check, Clacta.
Sources
市场主体登记管理条例实施细则 (SAMR Order No. 52, in force 2022-03-01), art. 23 (items shown on the license); National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System