Website Localisation in China: How to Host, Adapt and Launch Your Site for Mainland Users

Many international companies discover that their website is slow, partially broken or entirely unreachable for visitors in Mainland China. Translating the pages into Chinese does not solve this. A website that loads in two seconds in London may still take twenty seconds in Shanghai, fail to render its fonts, or lose its contact form because a blocked script never runs.

Website localisation for China therefore covers three connected layers: the infrastructure that delivers the site, the third-party services the site depends on, and the content and user experience that Chinese visitors actually see. Compliance runs through all three, because hosting a public website on Mainland servers requires an ICP Filing, which requires a Chinese legal entity.

This guide explains what website localisation involves in China, which hosting and compliance routes are open to foreign companies, what changes technically and editorially, and how AppInChina can help at each stage.

What Does Website Localisation Mean in China?

In most markets, website localisation means translating content and adapting design, currency and imagery for a local audience. In China, it has to start one level lower, because the way the site is delivered determines whether visitors can use it at all.

Layer	What It Covers	Why It Matters in China
Infrastructure	Hosting location, CDN, DNS, SSL, routing	Cross-border traffic passes through the Great Firewall and long international routes, adding latency and instability
Technical dependencies	Fonts, maps, video, analytics, CAPTCHA, chat, login, payment scripts	Many Western services are blocked or unreliable in China, which breaks pages that depend on them. Check what services are blocked here.
Content and UX	Language, layout, contact routes, forms, SEO, trust signals	Chinese users behave differently: mobile-first, WeChat-centred and Baidu-indexed
Compliance	ICP Filing, PSB Filing, MLPS Filing, data protection, content rules	Required for Mainland hosting and for a stable long-term presence

A site can be translated perfectly and still fail on the first two layers. Equally, a site can load quickly from Mainland servers and still convert poorly because its forms ask for a WhatsApp number and its only video is a YouTube embed.

Why isn’t Translation Enough?

Chinese visitors typically encounter three problems with international websites before they ever read the content.

• The Great Firewall. China’s internet filtering system blocks or slows many third-party services that international websites treat as standard, including Google Fonts, Google Analytics, Google Maps, YouTube and reCAPTCHA. Even when your own domain is accessible, a page waiting on a blocked script may render blank sections, drop its fonts or refuse to submit a form. See What Is the Great Firewall of China? for more detail.
• Physical distance. A site hosted in the United States or Europe sends every request across multiple international network hops. Images, JavaScript bundles and API calls all slow down, and the effect is worst on mobile connections.
• Compliance exposure. 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) require informational websites serving Chinese users to complete record-filing procedures. A site hosted overseas without an ICP Filing may work today, but it operates outside the framework and can be blocked without notice.

Translation addresses none of these. It is the final layer, not the first.

Do You Need to Localise Your Website for China?

The answer depends on how much your business relies on Chinese visitors. A company that occasionally receives enquiries from China needs less than a company running Baidu campaigns or operating a SaaS platform for Chinese customers.

Your Situation	Recommended Scope
Occasional Chinese visitors, no active marketing	Test from China, remove blocked resources, optimise page weight
Running Baidu Ads, WeChat or Douyin campaigns	China-accessible landing pages in Simplified Chinese, ideally on a fast CDN
Generating leads or sales from China	Mainland hosting or China CDN with ICP Filing, localised pages and Chinese contact routes
Operating SaaS, apps or customer portals used in China	Full China infrastructure, ICP Filing, MLPS assessment and possibly a Commercial ICP License
Competing for Baidu organic search	A Chinese-language site on Mainland hosting with a China-friendly structure

You can check how your current site performs with the AppInChina Website Tester, which reports load time, unreachable resources and connectivity from Mainland servers. The China Tech Stack Tester shows which individual tools and services work in China.

Can Foreign Companies Host a Website in China?

Yes, but not directly. Mainland China hosting and Mainland CDN acceleration both require an ICP Filing, and an ICP Filing can only be obtained by a Chinese legal entity. A foreign company, therefore, has three routes:

1. Establish a Chinese entity, such as a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) or a joint venture, and file in its own name. This gives full control but involves incorporation, capital and ongoing administration.
2. File through a Chinese partner. A partner such as AppInChina can hold the ICP Filing and the cloud account under its own entity, allowing your site to go live without incorporating in China. The partner takes on the associated legal responsibilities and acts as the contact for government inquiries.
3. Stay overseas. No filing is required, but performance and reliability depend on international routing, and the site remains exposed to blocking.

Two further points are often misunderstood:

• First, the domain suffix is not restricted: the MIIT’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) sets no suffix requirement, so .com, .net and .org domains can all be filed. 
• Second, an ICP Filing is not the same as a Commercial ICP License. The Filing (ICP备案) covers informational websites; the Commercial ICP License (ICP许可证) applies to certain paid, transactional or platform-based online services and is considerably harder for foreign-invested companies to obtain.

What Are Your Hosting Options?

Option	ICP Filing Required?	Performance in China	Best For
Optimised overseas hosting	No	Variable; dependent on routing	Market testing, low-priority traffic
CDN with nodes near China (Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan)	No	Improved for static assets; not equivalent to Mainland coverage	Quick improvement without compliance work
CDN with Mainland China nodes	Yes	Strong for cached content; origin can stay overseas	Companies keeping global infrastructure but needing speed in China
Mainland China cloud hosting	Yes	Strongest and most consistent	Companies committed to China long-term

For Mainland hosting, the main providers are Alibaba Cloud (阿里云), Tencent Cloud (腾讯云) and AWS China. AWS China deserves particular attention for companies already on AWS globally: it uses AWS technology but is operated by local partners, Sinnet in the Beijing Region and NWCD in the Ningxia Region, with separate accounts, billing, credentials and endpoints. A global AWS account cannot be used in China, and opening an AWS China account requires a Chinese business licence or an AWS partner such as AppInChina. Public-facing sites on AWS China generally need an ICP Filing before ports 80, 8080 and 443 are opened for public traffic.

For a comparison of providers, see the AppInChina Cloud Provider Index.

Which Compliance Requirements Apply?

Compliance depends on where the site is hosted and what it does. Requirements are cumulative: a company that needs a Commercial ICP License also needs the ICP Filing, and a company hosting in China needs the PSB Filing after the ICP Filing is approved.

Requirement	Chinese Name	When It Applies
ICP Filing	ICP备案	Any website hosted on Mainland servers or a Mainland CDN
PSB Filing	公安备案	Within 30 days of the site going live after ICP Filing approval
MLPS Filing	等级保护	Information systems, SaaS platforms, databases and cloud infrastructure, based on a graded security assessment
Commercial ICP License	ICP许可证	Paid online services, marketplaces and certain commercial platforms
Data protection compliance	个人信息保护法 (PIPL)	Any site collecting personal information from users in China; cross-border transfers face additional rules

Once filed, the ICP number must be displayed on the website, usually in the footer, and the filing information must be kept accurate if the hosting provider, domain or responsible person changes. Content that falls into restricted categories, such as news, publishing, user-generated content or gambling, requires separate qualifications or is not permitted.

What Does Technical Localisation Involve?

Technical localisation means replacing every dependency that fails or slows down in China with an equivalent that works. This is the most common cause of partially broken sites, and it can be done independently of the hosting decision.

Element	Typical Problem	China-Compatible Alternative
Google Fonts	Fonts fail or block rendering	Self-hosted fonts or Chinese web-font services
Google Analytics / Tag Manager	Tracking fails, page load slows	Baidu Tongji (百度统计), Umeng, or self-hosted analytics
Google Maps	Map does not load	Amap (高德地图), Baidu Maps (百度地图), Tencent Maps (腾讯地图)
YouTube / Vimeo embeds	Player fails	Hosting video on Mainland cloud storage or Chinese video platforms
reCAPTCHA	Forms cannot submit	Chinese CAPTCHA services (e.g. Tencent Captcha) or server-side validation
Facebook, Instagram, X embeds	Widgets fail	Remove, or replace with WeChat and Weibo links
Overseas live chat	Chat does not connect	WeChat Official Account, WeCom (企业微信), or local chat tools
Social login via Google or Facebook	Login fails	WeChat login, phone-number OTP
Overseas payment widgets	Checkout fails	Alipay, WeChat Pay where transactions are relevant
External JavaScript CDNs (e.g. jsDelivr, unpkg)	Libraries fail to load	Self-host libraries or use Chinese mirrors

The full user journey should be tested, not just the homepage. A contact form that depends on reCAPTCHA, a checkout that calls an overseas payment API or a dashboard that queries a blocked endpoint will fail silently for Chinese users even when the page appears to load.

What Does Content and UX Localisation Involve?

Once the site can be delivered and rendered, content localisation determines whether it converts.

Language. Simplified Chinese (简体中文) is standard for Mainland China. Professional translation should be reviewed by a native speaker with knowledge of your industry, since machine translation frequently misrenders technical and legal terms.

Mobile-first design. Most Chinese web traffic is mobile, and many visitors will arrive from inside WeChat’s in-app browser. Pages should be tested on Chinese Android devices and in WeChat, not only on desktop Chrome.

Contact routes. Chinese users expect a WeChat QR code, a Chinese phone number (+86) and a form that accepts a Chinese mobile number rather than an email address as the primary identifier. Email-only contact pages perform poorly.

Trust signals. Displaying the ICP number, a Chinese company name or partner, and recognisable local clients or certifications reassures visitors that the site is legitimate and locally operated.

Baidu SEO. Baidu indexes Chinese-language content hosted in or near China more reliably. Server-side rendering, clean HTML, Chinese meta tags and an ICP-filed domain all help. Baidu favours sites that load quickly from Mainland servers, so hosting and SEO are linked decisions.

Local conventions. Dates (年/月/日), currency (RMB / ¥), units, address formats and payment logos should follow Chinese norms. Imagery, colour choices and case studies should reflect the Chinese market rather than being copied from the global site.

How Do You Localise a Website for China Step by Step?

1. Test from Mainland China. Run the site through the Website Tester, then commission a manual test to identify every failing resource and its cause.
2. Decide the hosting route. Weigh overseas optimisation, a near-China CDN, a Mainland CDN or full Mainland hosting against your commercial dependence on China.
3. Secure the entity and filings. If hosting in China, establish a WFOE or engage a partner to hold the ICP Filing and cloud account. Prepare the domain ownership documents, business licence and responsible-person details.
4. Open the cloud account. Set up AWS China, Alibaba Cloud or Tencent Cloud. Provisioning and public port access depend on the ICP Filing being approved.
5. Replace blocked dependencies. Swap fonts, maps, analytics, video, CAPTCHA and chat for China-compatible alternatives across the entire site.
6. Localise content and UX. Translate into Simplified Chinese, redesign contact routes and forms, and adapt the site for mobile and WeChat browsing.
7. Deploy and complete the PSB Filing. Once live, complete the PSB Filing within the required window and add the ICP and PSB numbers to the footer.
8. Re-test and monitor. Test the live site from multiple Chinese cities and carriers, then re-test after every release, since a single new third-party script can break the site again.

Timelines vary. Replacing blocked services on an existing site can take days to weeks depending on complexity. ICP Filing review typically takes several weeks after documents are submitted, and a fully localised, locally hosted site is usually a multi-month project. These are general estimates based on AppInChina’s project experience rather than fixed figures.

What Ongoing Obligations Apply After Launch?

Localisation is not a one-off task. Companies with a China-hosted site should expect to:

• Keep the ICP Filing information current when the domain, hosting, company details or responsible person change.
• Display the ICP and PSB numbers on the site at all times.
• Review new third-party integrations before deployment, since marketing and product teams frequently add scripts that do not work in China.
• Maintain compliance with PIPL, including a Chinese-language privacy policy and appropriate handling of cross-border data transfers.
• Re-test accessibility after major releases and periodically, as blocking behaviour and CDN routing change over time.

FAQs

Does my Website Need to be in Chinese to Work in China?

No. Language affects conversion, not accessibility. An English-language site can be fast and fully functional in China if its hosting and dependencies are addressed. However, a site aimed at Chinese customers will perform far better in Simplified Chinese.

Do I Need a .cn Domain?

No. The MIIT’s domain notice sets no suffix requirement for ICP Filing, so .com, .net and .org domains are eligible. A separate China-specific domain can still be useful for keeping content clearly separated from the global site.

Can I Host in China Without a Chinese Company?

Not in your own name. The ICP Filing must be held by a Chinese legal entity. Foreign companies without one typically use a partner such as AppInChina to hold the filing and the cloud account.

Is an ICP Filing the same as an ICP License?

No. The ICP Filing (ICP备案) is a registration for informational websites hosted in China. The Commercial ICP License (ICP许可证) is a permit for certain paid or transactional online services and has stricter eligibility rules for foreign-invested companies.

Can I use Cloudflare or Another Global CDN in China?

Global CDNs can improve performance in nearby regions, but Mainland China acceleration requires an ICP Filing and a China-specific network configuration. Without it, a CDN will not deliver Mainland-level coverage.

Can I Keep my Main Infrastructure Overseas?

Yes. A Mainland CDN with an ICP Filing can serve cached content from within China while the origin server stays abroad. Dynamic features and API calls will still cross the border, so this suits informational sites better than heavily interactive ones.

How Do I know Whether my Site Works in China Right Now?

Use the AppInChina Website Tester for an automated check from Mainland servers, then request a manual test if you need to know exactly which elements fail and why.

How Can AppInChina Help?

AppInChina localises websites for international companies at every layer described in this guide. As an official partner of AWS China and Tencent Cloud, we can provide the infrastructure and compliance foundation without you establishing a Chinese entity.

• China accessibility testing. We run a full manual test of your website from Mainland China and deliver a report identifying every asset and script that fails, why it fails and what to replace it with.
• Technical remediation. We replace blocked fonts, maps, analytics, video, CAPTCHA, chat and login services with China-compatible alternatives and integrate them into your existing site.
• CDN configuration. We help you select and configure a CDN with Mainland or near-China coverage suited to your traffic and compliance position.
• Hosting under our entity. We open a cloud account on AWS China, Alibaba Cloud or Tencent Cloud under AppInChina’s Chinese legal entity and manage the deployment.
• ICP Filing and PSB Filing. We apply for and maintain the ICP Filing and PSB Filing for your domain, keep the records current and act as the contact for government inquiries.
• Full website localisation. We build a China-facing version of your site with Simplified Chinese content, localised UX, Chinese contact routes and Baidu-friendly structure, as we did for Banana.ch.
• Promotion after launch. Once your site is accessible and compliant, our Promotion team can drive traffic through Baidu SEO and ads, WeChat, Douyin and RedNote.

To find out how your website performs in China and what it would take to localise it, contact us to get started.