Is your website China-ready? 36 checks, each with a test

Most China checklists tell you what to do. Few tell you how to know it worked, and a domain that connects can still give a visitor a blank page.

This one gives each item a test and a pass result. It’s the working checklist for our guide to putting your website in China.

The explanations live in the linked guides, so you can stay on the list.

Which checks apply to you?

Everyone runs checks 1 to 31. Checks 32 to 36 apply only if you host or deliver from mainland China. China Briefing says that takes a Chinese legal entity or a licensed local partner.³⁹

Your setup	Checks to run	ICP steps?
Hosted in Europe, the US or Hong Kong	1 to 31	No, on hosting providers’ reading 58
CDN with nodes outside the mainland only	1 to 31	No, on hosting providers’ reading 57
CDN with mainland nodes, origin abroad	1 to 36	Yes 12
Hosted on mainland servers	1 to 36	Yes 44

Being exempt from an ICP is not the same as being ready. An ICP also fixes none of the technical items: Chinafy notes it won’t speed up a site or repair broken third-party scripts.⁵⁰

Can a visitor reach your whole page?

A page passes only when it fully loads from several mainland networks. Testing the domain isn’t enough, and neither is a test from your office.

#	Check	How to test	Pass
1	Your key URLs answer from the mainland	Run the exact Chinese URLs in GreatFire and WebSitePulse, on HTTPS and HTTP 12	Normal response from every Chinese location
2	More than one network works	Filter a BOCE test by China Telecom, Mobile and Unicom 3	All three respond
3	The full page loads, not just the domain	Load a real page in China, without a VPN, and watch it finish	Text, images and form all appear
4	Your own firewall lets China in	Read your WAF, bot and country rules. Look for 403 responses in check 1	No rule blocks China or Baidu
5	Your server location is a choice	Compare the same page from two hosting locations	You kept the faster, and you have the numbers
6	You know what serves a Chinese visitor	Ask your CDN provider, in writing	You can name the network and its status for China

Check 3 catches what check 1 can’t.

Chinafy says 83% of 100 Shopify stores missed its 30-second limit in Beijing,⁶ yet GreatFire shows shopify.com not blocked, at 0 of 13 tests.⁷ That’s a vendor’s benchmark, but the gap is the point.

Read failures with care:

• “Not enough data” isn’t a pass. GreatFire means its test couldn’t conclude.¹
• One failed node isn’t a national block. GFWeb traces most gaps between tools to local interference from ISPs or cloud providers.⁴
• One bad hour isn’t a block. On August 20, 2025, GFW Report saw resets injected into connections on TCP port 443 for about 74 minutes.⁵

For what each tool does, see how to test your site from China. If a test keeps failing, see whether your site is blocked or just slow. If the page loads but drags, see how to speed it up.

None of the guides we read mention check 4. Baidu’s SEO guide, last updated in 2014, says its crawler servers are in China,⁸ so we infer a country block would stop Baiduspider too.

Huawei’s WAF manual warns that blocking search engines may affect SEO.¹³

Does anything outside your domain hold the page up?

Nothing your page needs should depend on a domain you don’t control. Run these on your Chinese pages first. Your other language versions can wait.

#	Check	How to test	Pass
7	You have a list of outside domains	Filter the Network tab and write down each one	A complete list, with a purpose beside each
8	The page survives without them	Block each domain in DevTools, then reload	Main content appears without it
9	Fonts are on your domain	Filter Network for fonts.g	No calls to Google 15
10	Libraries are on your domain	Filter for ajax.googleapis and other public CDNs	Scripts load from your domain 16
11	No Google Maps embed	Open your contact page	A written address with Amap and Baidu links 17
12	No YouTube embed	Open each page with video	A Chinese platform, your own file or a written summary 18
13	You measure Chinese traffic some other way	Check your tag list	A tool that isn’t Google Analytics, such as self-hosted Matomo 19
14	Your CMS adds nothing hidden	Repeat check 7 with a comment, a form and a plugin active	No Gravatar, Jetpack or similar calls 2055

Google Fonts is the classic disagreement.

GreatFire shows https://fonts.googleapis.com not blocked, at 0 of 4 conclusive tests over 90 days, the last in October 2026,¹⁴ while Chinafy calls it blocked.¹⁵ Host the files yourself and the argument stops mattering.

Platforms add their own items. See WordPress, Shopify and Webflow in China.

Can a Chinese visitor actually contact you?

The test is a real inquiry that reaches a person. A page can pass every check above and still lose the lead at the submit button.

#	Check	How to test	Pass
15	The captcha works there	List yours against our forms guide	Not reCAPTCHA by default 56, not Turnstile 11
16	The form embed loads	Test the script itself, not the vendor’s home page	The form renders and submits from China
17	Fields accept Chinese input	Submit a Chinese name, and a +86 number	Accepted, with no “first name” trap 22
18	A real inquiry reaches someone	Send one from China, end to end	It arrives, and someone can reply

Two details are worth a look. Google Forms is blocked, according to AppInChina.²¹ And no one we read has tested HubSpot’s form script from China, so test yours rather than trust a list.

On check 17, W3C suggests a single full-name field where you can. If you need two, avoid “first name” and “last name”, since Chinese names put the family name first.²²

Are your Chinese pages built properly?

Your pages should declare their language, stay put at a stable address, and work on a phone. Each takes a minute to check.

#	Check	How to test	Pass
19	A human reviewed the Chinese	Ask a native speaker to read titles, buttons and forms	No unreviewed machine translation
20	The language is declared	View source, find <html lang>	zh-Hans, or the older substitute zh-CN 23
21	Nothing redirects by guess	Open the Chinese URL from a European and a Chinese IP	Same page, no automatic redirect 24
22	The phone version works	Run check 3 on a phone	Readable, tappable, form usable

Test check 22 on a real phone. CNNIC counted 99.6% of users going online by mobile in December 2025.²⁵

That counts people, not visits. StatCounter’s October 2026 traffic sample shows 55.87% mobile,⁵⁴ so keep desktop working too.

Add hreflang for Google, using zh-Hans if you target by script.⁴⁹ No Baidu page we read mentions it, so don’t count on it there.

On structure, see subfolder, subdomain or separate site.

Can search engines find and read you?

Baidu needs to reach your server and find your content as text. These checks don’t get you ranked. They remove reasons not to be.

#	Check	How to test	Pass
23	Main content is in the HTML	View source, search for your Chinese H1	It’s there before any JavaScript runs 26
24	Real Baiduspider reaches you	Find it in your logs, then run a reverse DNS lookup	Host ends in .baidu.com or .baidu.jp 27
25	robots.txt lets Baidu in	Read the file for Baiduspider	No Disallow on Chinese pages, and CSS and JS open to Baiduspider-render 2753
26	The site is verified with Baidu	Log in to the webmaster account	HTML file or tag verified and left in place 2962
27	Your sitemap is plain	Open the file	Not a sitemap index, and only your own site 30
28	Your pages are submitted	See how to submit your site	Submitted, without assuming indexing 28
29	Bing can see you	Search site:yourdomain.com on cn.bing.com	Your Chinese pages appear

Check 24 catches fakes, since anyone can claim the name Baiduspider.

Baidu’s FAQ gives the method: host IP on Linux, nslookup IP on Windows, dig -x IP on macOS.²⁷ Any other hostname isn’t Baidu.

No real Baiduspider in your logs after you’ve submitted? That’s a finding too. Start with why your site isn’t showing on Baidu.

Two limits apply:

• Check 26 may stop you. Baidu’s help pages contradict each other. One says only mainland numbers can register.⁵⁹ Another allows foreign numbers through four product lines, and excludes EU numbers.⁶⁰
• Check 27 may depend on your account. In September 2023, Baidu switched off sitemap submission for sites in accounts without real-name verification and for low-quality sites.³¹

Check 29 has a reason behind it. StatCounter put Bing at 21.69% in China in October 2026, behind Baidu’s 49.00%.³² Whether foreign sites show there is something to check site by site.

If your content relies on JavaScript, read that guide before you trust check 23.

Free check

Is your website visible on Baidu?

Enter your website. We check Baidu, access from China and how your site is set up, then email you the report.

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Are your words and data safe to publish?

These are preparation checks, not legal advice. How Chinese rules reach a foreign company’s site depends on your case, so take the results to a local adviser.

#	Check	How to test	Pass
30	Claims are provable and not absolute	Search for 最佳, 最高级, 国家级 and synonyms	Removed or cleared by an adviser 3334
31	Sensitive items are reviewed	Check country lists, maps and topics	Reviewed by someone who knows the rules 35

Four more items sit outside this list because they aren’t tests of your site, and they still belong on your launch plan:

• Proof must be real. The Advertising Law counts fabricated or unverifiable research, statistics, survey results and quotations as false advertising.³⁴
• Privacy may reach you. PIPL covers processing abroad aimed at providing products or services to people in China.³⁷ See does China’s privacy law apply to your website.
• Your name may be taken. China is first to file: when two applicants seek the same or a similar mark on similar goods, the earlier application goes forward.³⁸ File before you print a Chinese brand name on your pages.
• Payment needs its own plan. If you charge online, see accepting Alipay and WeChat Pay.

The country-list check comes from a real case. In January 2018, regulators ordered Marriott’s China website and app closed for a week, after a customer survey offered Tibet, Taiwan and Hong Kong as countries.³⁵

The extra checks for mainland hosting

These apply only if you serve visitors from inside the mainland. The order matters, since each one depends on the one before.

#	Check	How to test	Pass
32	Your entity can hold the account	Read the provider’s terms	A valid Chinese business license, as AWS China requires 40
33	The domain is ready to file	Check suffix, registrar and owner	Owner matches the filing entity 43
34	The ICP number is on your home page	Open the home page	Number shown prominently 41
35	The PSB number is in the footer	Open any page	PSB number in place 42
36	The right ICP type is in place	Ask: do you charge online?	Filing alone, or filing plus commercial license, confirmed by an adviser 39

Domain rules differ by provider. Alibaba Cloud requires an approved suffix and registrar, and an owner matching the filing entity.⁴³

A .cn isn’t compulsory: the 2017 domain measures don’t require one.⁴⁶

On check 35, China Briefing says the PSB filing must be completed within 30 days of receiving the ICP number.³⁹ Dezan Shira’s 2019 guide counts from going online.⁶⁴

For the wider picture, see do you need an ICP license and website hosting in China.

What can you safely ignore?

Some common checklist items don’t hold up. These four can come off your list, or at least stop being blockers.

Common advice	What we found
Load in under 3 seconds 47	Given without a source. We found no current Baidu threshold
Keep images under 50 KB 48	Given without a source. Faster is better, but it’s no rule
You need a .cn domain	Not required by the domain measures.46 Baidu’s guide, updated in 2014, says the extension has no effect on web search 52
Set up hreflang so Baidu finds your Chinese pages	No Baidu page we read mentions it. Keep it for Google

Where does the evidence run out?

No official checklist exists that we could find, so this list is built from research, vendor documents and Baidu’s guidance. Parts of it are weaker than a tidy table suggests.

• The tools aren’t proven. We found no study comparing them, and the node counts of some are unverified. None replaces a real visitor.
• Baidu’s guidance is old. Much of what we cite dates from 2014 to 2019, and it may not all still apply.
• Page weight is unclear. Baidu’s 2017 mobile white paper advised keeping source under 128k, and described a 164k page whose main content wasn’t indexed.⁶¹ We don’t know if that still holds.
• You may not learn why. We found no source for how to tell if your IP is blocked, or any notice or appeal route.

How often should you run it again?

Repeat the list whenever something changes, because it goes stale. Chinafy writes: “A resource that’s accessible from China one month can become blocked the next, and the reverse can happen just as easily.”³⁶

1. After any change. Rerun checks 7, 8 and 18 after a new plugin, tag, form or theme.
2. After moving host or CDN. Rerun checks 1 to 6.
3. On a fixed rhythm. Pick one you’ll keep, and rerun checks 1, 3, 18 and 24.

The bottom line

A China-ready site is one you’ve tested, not one you’ve configured. Start with whether a visitor can load a page and reach you, because everything else depends on that.

Do the mainland steps only if you’ve chosen that path, and take the legal items to a local adviser.

How Index in China can help

Our service covers translation into Simplified Chinese with a human reviewer, and indexing on Chinese search engines. Running this checklist isn’t a listed part of it.

An ICP isn’t part of the offer we list either, and we’ll tell you if your case needs a local adviser. See what we do, or book a 30-minute call.

Book a 30-minute call

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