What our China company report includes
Our China reports are researched directly from sources including State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) filings, the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (NECIPS), local court records, and on-the-ground enquiry; fees may apply for certain records. Depth of any given section reflects what the subject company has filed and what is publicly retrievable at the time of the search. We translate and present everything in clear English.
Identity & registration
- ✓ Unified Social Credit Code (USCC, 18-digit)
- ✓ Registered Chinese name and English name
- ✓ Legal form, date of incorporation, business term
- ✓ Registered office and operating address
- ✓ Operating status (active, suspended, deregistered)
People & ownership
- ✓ Legal representative (法定代表人)
- ✓ Directors, supervisors, senior management
- ✓ Shareholders and registered capital
- ✓ Paid-up capital (often differs from registered)
- ✓ Parent / group entity (where disclosed)
Financial & trading
- ✓ Annual report filings (turnover, assets, staff)
- ✓ Business scope and licensed activities (case-specific)
- ✓ Import/export licence status (case-specific)
- ✓ Risk indicator and calculated credit limit
Risk & public records
- ✓ Court judgements and enforcement records
- ✓ Abnormal Operations List (经营异常名录)
- ✓ Serious Illegal Acts List (严重违法失信名单) (case-specific)
- ✓ Administrative penalties and tax delinquency (case-specific)
Note on Chinese data: public filings are made in Chinese and registered capital is not the same as paid-up capital. Our researchers can research both, flag any "shelf company" or paper-only entities, and assess from the available records whether the address corresponds to genuine premises.
Why verify a Chinese company?
China is the single most important sourcing market for buyers across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Africa, and the most heavily targeted by trade fraud directed at overseas buyers. The good news is that public filings are comparatively detailed: every registered company has a Unified Social Credit Code, files annual returns, and is searchable on government portals. The challenge is that those filings are in Chinese, registered capital is often unfunded, and a registered company can sit on the books for years without trading.
The most common patterns we can see in China verifications fall into a few groups. The first is mis-identification: a buyer is dealing with what they believe is a large manufacturer, but the registered entity is a small trading company sharing a name with the genuine factory. The second is shelf entities: businesses with full registration paperwork but no trading activity, no staff, and a virtual address. The third is sub-licensed trade: the contracting entity has no import/export licence and is fronting for a third party the buyer never meets. A fresh investigation surfaces all three.
Beyond fraud, ordinary commercial risk is also worth checking. Chinese companies are required to publish annual reports through NECIPS, including turnover, asset values and staff numbers, but enforcement is uneven and the data is only as current as the most recent filing. Where filings are out of date, our agents research the available records to establish current trading status. We can also check the Abnormal Operations List and the Serious Illegal Acts list, both of which are early-warning indicators that go well beyond what a Western credit bureau would normally cover.
For larger commitments such as sole-supplier arrangements, prepayment to a new factory, equity investment, or any payment to a previously unknown counterparty, an investigated report is the standard market practice. It is the same information every experienced China buyer asks for before committing meaningful sums.