How to Make Your Website Accessible in China
International websites often experience slow loading times, broken features, or complete inaccessibility when accessed from Mainland China, harming many companies’ prospects of establishing a reliable and meaningful presence in China. This guide explains why websites are blocked in China and provides clear solutions you can follow to ensure your website is accessible in China.
What Does Website Accessibility Mean in China?
Website accessibility in China refers to whether your site can be reached, loaded, and used by visitors in Mainland China. Accessibility issues fall into two categories: functionality problems and compliance requirements. Your business goals determine which issues you need to address.
Website accessibility in China can be divided into five categories:
- Completely nonfunctional: Doesn’t load or loads too slowly to use
- Partially functional: Loads, but important elements (such as images and text) fail
- Functional but inconsistent: Works intermittently with performance issues
- Functional but non-compliant: Works technically but lacks ICP filing
- Fully accessible and compliant: Performs well and meets all regulatory requirements
Why Doesn’t My Website Work in China?
The Great Firewall. The Great Firewall filters and slows international traffic. Many commonly used third-party services and content, such as Google fonts and YouTube embeds, are blocked entirely. Even if your core website isn’t blocked, these dependencies cause slow loading, broken functionality, or missing assets such as images, text, and videos.
Physical distance. When servers are located far from China, data travels through multiple network hops, adding latency. A site that loads instantly in North America might take 20 seconds or fail in Shanghai.
Compliance requirements. According to Articles 4, 8, and 19 of the Administrative Measures on Internet-based Information Services (互联网信息服务管理办法), any informational website targeting Chinese users must obtain an ICP (Internet Content Provider) Filing. Without the ICP Filing, your website is non-compliant, and authorities can block your site at any time.
How Can I Test If My Website Works in China?
Start with automated website testing tools, such as AppInChina’s China Website Tester, that simulate access from China. These tools identify whether your site loads and flag obvious issues, giving you a reliable indication of the loading time and errors your website might face in China.
When automated reports don’t clearly indicate which assets are failing, manual testing from actual locations in China can pinpoint exactly which elements aren’t loading properly. AppInChina can do manual testing to identify which elements are blocked and why, providing solutions and alternatives in a detailed website report. You can also use our China Tech Stack Tester to identify what services are blocked in China.
Option 1: Making Your Existing Website Functional in China
This path suits businesses that want quick improvements without investing too much in their China presence. In this option, your website can be made fully functional without an ICP Filing, but will still face the risk of being blocked at any moment. With this option, you have two approaches: using a CDN or replacing all blocked services with viable alternatives.
What Is a CDN and How Does It Help?
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) with points of presence in Hong Kong or other regions close to China caches your website content closer to Chinese users, reducing latency. Hong Kong-based CDN services operate outside mainland China’s regulatory framework but provide geographic proximity benefits, meaning your website’s performance will improve.
How Do I Replace Third-Party Services?
Replacing third-party services first requires a manual test to identify which services are blocked. Once these have been identified, viable alternatives can be deployed to ensure that your website loads and functions properly in China.
What Are the Limitations of This Approach?
Without an ICP filing, Chinese authorities can block your domain at any time. While your website’s performance will improve, you are still not compliant with local laws and regulations. This option is therefore not for businesses seeking to establish a long-term reliable China presence.
When Should I Choose This Option?
Choose this when you:
- Are testing the Chinese market before substantial investments
- Serve a niche B2B audience rather than mass consumers
- Need quick improvements without lengthy compliance processes
- Don’t collect sensitive personal information from Chinese users
- Can accept the risk of potential blocking
Option 2: Creating a Fully Compliant Chinese Website
This path suits businesses committed to the Chinese market who want maximum performance and minimal regulatory risk. It requires more investment but provides the most stable solution.
What Does Full Compliance Require?
Full compliance means obtaining an ICP filing, which requires a Chinese business entity. This can be your own wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE), a joint venture, or a partnership with a Chinese entity such as AppInChina. Compliance also includes adhering to data protection regulations and content restrictions.
What Are My Options for Compliant Hosting?
Using a CDN with China nodes. Requires an ICP filing but allows you to keep primary infrastructure outside China. The CDN serves cached content from servers within China. You can use your existing domain or create a China-specific domain.
Hosting a China-specific version of your website. With this option, you host a China-specific website in China with a local cloud provider such as Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun or 阿里云)or Tencent Cloud (腾讯云). This option also requires an ICP Filing, delivering optimal performance in compliance with local laws and regulations, so you don’t have to worry about it being blocked in the future.
It is important to note that your domain suffix, or top-level domain, doesn’t have to be .cn. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s Notice on Regulating the Use of Domain Names in Providing Internet-based Information Services (工业和信息化部关于规范互联网信息服务使用域名的通知), there are no domain suffix limitations for ICP Filing. You can obtain an ICP Filing for most common top-level domains, including .com, .net, .org, and .edu.
Should I Use a Separate Domain for China?
Having a separate China-specific domain is a good option for companies that want to establish a significant presence in China. Having a China-specific domain allows you to:
- Host content tailored to Chinese audiences
- Implement China-specific features and integrations
- Maintain clearer separation between compliant and non-compliant content
- Simplify compliance management
Many successful international companies operate distinct Chinese web properties that differ from their global sites.
When Should I Choose This Option?
Choose this when you:
- Are committed to the Chinese market long-term
- Want maximum performance and reliability
- Collect personal information from Chinese users
- Are in an industry subject to greater regulatory scrutiny
- Have or will establish a legal entity in China
- Cannot accept the risk of sudden blocking
What Should I Do After My Website Is Accessible?
Once you’ve established reliable accessibility, you can effectively promote your website and generate leads in the Chinese market. Accessibility, along with compliance, is the foundation for all marketing activities; without it, advertising, content marketing, and Baidu SEO cannot drive meaningful results.
How Can AppInChina Help?
At AppInChina, we offer a range of services that can help you ensure your website is accessible in China. We can help with:
- Manual testing. We run a full manual test of your website, producing a report to confirm exactly what assets and elements are not loading correctly and why. This will help you identify what third-party services you need to replace.
- CDN configuration. We help you select and configure a CDN for optimal performance in China.
- ICP Filing. We help you obtain the ICP Filing for your domain to ensure that it is compliant with local laws and regulations.
- Hosting. We can help you open a cloud account with a Chinese cloud provider such as Alibaba Cloud or Tencent Cloud under our Chinese entity. We then help you host your website with an ICP Filing so you don’t have to worry about it being blocked.
- Website localisation. We create a fully localised, China-facing version of your website. This includes technical localisation, translation and ensuring compliance with ICP Filing requirements.
To ensure your website is fully functional and accessible in Mainland China, contact us to get started.