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Practical write-ups from China market entry work: permits, hosting, and delivery decisions that determine whether your launch lands on schedule.

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ICP Filing & Compliance

  • PIPL Compliance for Foreign Companies: What China's Data Law Requires Beyond the Filing

    The operational layer for offshore handlers: the Art. 3 purpose tests, the seven Art. 13 lawful bases, the four-item Art. 17 notice, separate-consent rules, the Art. 53 mainland representative, the five PIPIA triggers, and the Art. 66 penalty ladder.

    October 6, 2026

  • Reach China Without an ICP Filing? Paths & Trade-offs

    Where the ICP obligation actually attaches, what serving China from offshore costs (2–8+ s TTFB, 15–30+ s loads), and how a hybrid path goes live while entity and filing work progresses.

    September 28, 2026

  • WFOE vs Hong Kong Company: ICP Filing Entity Rules Explained

    ICP filing needs a mainland entity — typically a WFOE. A Hong Kong company alone cannot hold the filing. Understand the entity rules before committing to hosting, documents, and launch dates.

    September 28, 2026

  • Hong Kong Server vs Mainland China Server: What Changes

    A Hong Kong origin skips the ICP filing but keeps the cross-border hop: filing scope, the performance bill, blocked-API behavior, and the migration path — what changes and what does not.

    October 5, 2026

  • ICP Filing for Foreign Companies: Step-by-Step Timeline

    ICP filing for foreign companies step by step — the five phases from WFOE entity readiness to a displayed ICP number, with the 2–4 week submission & review window, who can hold the filing (a Hong Kong entity cannot), and common pitfalls at each phase.

    September 23, 2026

  • ICP Filing Rejected: Common Reasons and the Fix for Each

    A rejection is a documented, recoverable event: the two review layers, the full reason catalog — certificates, domains, website names, content, phone verification, process collisions — and the mechanical fix loop: read the comments, fix the flagged items, resubmit.

    October 5, 2026

  • Transfer or Cancel an ICP Filing Without Losing Your Domain

    Switching mainland hosts is a filing event, not a DNS change: add the new provider with an access filing first, change what can be changed (province and subject are locked), and cancel safely — 24-hour SMS verification rules, 1–20 working-day province timing, and the empty-shell trap, mapped.

    October 5, 2026

  • Do WeChat Mini Programs Need an ICP Filing? 2023 Rule

    Since WeChat opened the filing entry on 2023-09-04, every Mini Program needs an ICP filing before it can publish — an unfiled program fails with error 86369. The five-stage flow, pre-approval categories, and foreign-brand blockers, mapped.

    September 28, 2026

  • APP Filing in China: When a Native App (or APIs) Needs One

    Native apps and their API backends are first-class ICP filing objects: the -A filing serial, the three unfiled-app enforcement layers (provider block, WeChat gate, store listing), and how the APP registration sits beside your website filing.

    October 5, 2026

  • ICP Filing vs ICP License: Which One You Need

    ICP filing (Bei'an) is the baseline registration for mainland-hosted sites; the ICP license covers commercial platforms and paid services.

    September 21, 2026

  • Game Approval in China: NPPA Rules for Foreign Publishers

    Games carry a seventh launch instrument the standard stack never covers: NPPA version approval — five public result channels, month-titled domestic batches, and a pre-approval document that gates a game Mini Program's filing at the front door.

    October 5, 2026

Need the filing handled end-to-end? Our ICP & compliance service coordinates the entity, filing, and hosting decisions for your launch.

Performance & Hosting

Deploying mainland hosting or a China CDN? Our mainland hosting and CDN service covers provider selection, deployment, and CDN tuning as a single engagement.

WeChat & Payments

Building a Mini Program or WeChat Pay checkout? Our WeChat ecosystem service coordinates Mini Program, H5, and WeChat Pay integration on the same entity and filing foundation.

Frequently asked questions

Which guide should I start with?

Start with the 10-point China readiness check — one checklist covering mainland load times, blocked dependencies, WeChat Pay, and ICP filing gaps.

The hub organizes its guides into three pillars: ICP Filing & Compliance (entity rules, the filing timeline, filing vs license, Mini Program filing), Performance & Hosting (CDN prerequisites, cloud-provider choice, blocked-API diagnosis, testing from China), and WeChat & Payments (WeChat Pay acceptance paths, Mini Program vs H5 decisions).

Start with the pillar your yes answers point to — and if the diagnostic flags a compliance gate, start with ICP Filing & Compliance, since the diagnostic treats those items as launch gates, not tuning items.

There are two ICP filing guides — which one should I read?

ICP Filing for Foreign Companies: Step-by-Step Timeline answers how long and in what order: it walks the five phases from WFOE entity readiness to a displayed ICP number, and submission and review typically takes 2–4 weeks.

ICP Filing vs ICP License: Which One You Need answers which instrument applies: read it when you are not yet sure whether your product needs the baseline filing alone or a license on top.

Read the timeline guide once you know a filing is required and you are planning the phases; read the filing-vs-license guide while the instrument question is still open.

Do you have a guide for Mini Program ICP filing?

Yes — Do WeChat Mini Programs Need an ICP Filing? 2023 Rule maps the five-stage filing flow, the pre-approval categories that wait on other regulators, and the blockers that trip up foreign-owned teams.

If a publish or update attempt fails with error 86369, this is the guide: it explains the filing gate and the fix for each stall point.

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