Straight answers, with the source named

Start from your situation

• Setting up your first China entity The reading before a China company registration: whether you need an entity, what the file contains, the timeline, ownership and the roles to appoint.
• Staying compliant each year What a Chinese company files every year, the windows and deadlines, what happens when a filing is missed, and how to check that the work was actually done.
• Getting documents accepted across borders Notarisation, the apostille and certified translation: how a company document from one country becomes acceptable to a registry, bank or authority in another.
• Meetings and negotiations with Chinese counterparts Interpreting and negotiation at meetings you have arranged, what to check in a contract before signing, and who can bind the company across the table.

Structuring

• What is registered capital in a Chinese company? Registered capital (注册资本) is the amount a company’s shareholders commit to contribute, registered and printed on the Chinese business licence. Limited liability companies formed since 1 July 2024 must pay it in within five years of establishment. An older limited liability company whose deadline falls after 30 June 2032 must bring it forward by 30 June 2027.
• How long does it take to register a company in China? Company registration (公司注册) is fast; the project around it is not. A complete file is registered the same day, and six working days is the ceiling (Market Entity Registration Regulation, Article 19). The government’s start-up target, which covers five steps but not the bank, is four working days. Months go on document legalisation abroad, premises and banking.
• Can I register a company in China without visiting? Usually most of it, not all. National law already permits fully electronic registration (全程网办), with an electronic licence and electronic signature of equal effect. What it does not waive is real-name verification of the legal representative and the shareholders, and an ordinary foreign passport cannot be enrolled in that system. The bank and tax steps turn on the same problem.
• Can a foreigner own 100% of a Chinese company? Yes, in any sector outside the foreign investment negative list, where national treatment applies. The 2024 list, in force 1 November 2024, carries 29 restrictive measures and no manufacturing chapter at all. A foreign individual qualifies too: the Foreign Investment Law defines a foreign investor to include a natural person.
• What is a legal representative in a Chinese company? The legal representative (法定代表人) is the individual named on a Chinese company’s business licence who can bind it. Since 1 July 2024, Company Law Article 10 requires a director who executes the company’s affairs, or the manager. Acts in the company’s name bind the company (Article 11), and enforcement measures can reach the person.
• How do I pay registered capital into a Chinese company? Registered capital is remitted into a foreign exchange capital account opened in the company’s own name, not its ordinary operating account. The wire must come from the registered shareholder itself. Nothing can be settled or spent until the contribution entry registration is done, and the company must then publicise the paid-in figure.
• What directors and officers must a Chinese company have? A Chinese limited liability company must have a legal representative, and that person must be the director who executes company affairs or the manager. It must have directors: a board of three or more, or a single director where the company is small. Since 1 July 2024 the supervisor can be dispensed with. The manager is optional.

Market entry

• Do I need a Chinese company to sell in China? Usually not. Cross-border e-commerce and a Chinese distributor both work with no Chinese entity, and a Chinese customer can deduct what it pays a foreign supplier. A company becomes necessary when you must issue Chinese tax invoices domestically, employ staff in China, hold stock in your own name, or need a licence reserved to a Chinese legal person.
• What is 1210 cross-border e-commerce bonded import? 1210 is the Chinese customs code for cross-border e-commerce bonded import. Stock waits untaxed in a bonded warehouse inside a special customs area and ships one consumer order at a time. Orders within a per-order and an annual limit are taxed more lightly than general trade. It skips first-import registration but sells only to consumers.
• How long can goods stay in a Chinese bonded warehouse? It depends on the facility, and the periods come from three different instruments. Goods may stay one year in a bonded warehouse (Article 22) and two years in a B-type bonded logistics centre (Article 24), each extendable by up to one year with customs approval. A comprehensive bonded zone sets no storage limit (Article 33).

Brand protection

• What does “first to file” mean for trademarks in China? China awards a trademark to whoever files first (申请在先原则). Under Article 31 of the Trademark Law, earlier use breaks only a same-day tie. Three provisions qualify the race: an agent may not register its principal’s mark, a mark already used with some influence may not be pre-empted by unfair means, and a prior user may continue within its original scope.

Documents

• How do I get a document apostilled for use in China? For a public document from a contracting state, you notarise it at home if it is not already public, obtain an apostille (附加证明书) from that state’s competent authority, and have it translated into Chinese. Consular legalisation ended between contracting states on 7 November 2023. The Chinese recipient still decides whether your translation is acceptable.
• Which documents does a foreign company need notarised and apostilled for China? For company registration, China’s rules name one document per foreign investor: a company’s proof of legal existence, such as a certificate of incorporation, or an individual’s identity document. It is notarised, then apostilled, or consular-legalised where the Apostille Convention does not apply, and filed with a Chinese translation. Some passports are exempt; banks may ask for more.
• Is a certified translation done outside China accepted by Chinese authorities? It depends on the office receiving it. Chinese authorities set their own translation requirements. The market regulator’s 2026 filing specification asks for a Chinese translation carrying the translation company’s official seal or translation seal (翻译专用章), the words “accurate translation” and a copy of its business licence. Courts require a Chinese translation of foreign-language material. Ask the receiving office before commissioning.
• What documents do I need to register a company in China? Five categories, under Article 16 of the Market Entity Registration Regulation: the application, the applicant’s qualification or identity documents, documents for the premises, the articles of association, and anything else a law requires. For a foreign investor the qualification documents are notarised at home, then apostilled or consular-legalised.
• What is a company chop, and why does it matter more than a signature? A company chop (公章) is the registered seal a Chinese company uses to execute documents. It does not outrank a signature in law: the Civil Code treats signature, chop and fingerprint as alternatives (Article 490), and the Supreme People’s Court asks who held the authority, not whose chop it was. Control of it is what matters.
• What is a fapiao? A fapiao (发票) is the payment voucher issued through China’s tax system, defined by Article 3 of the Invoice Management Measures. A special VAT fapiao lets a general taxpayer credit input VAT; a general fapiao does not. It is not the same as a commercial invoice, and since December 2024 the standard form is digital.

Contracts

• Which language version of a bilingual China contract prevails? Whichever version the contract nominates, so check that clause in both languages: Chinese-drafted contracts often name the Chinese text, sometimes only in the Chinese. Where the versions are agreed to be equally authentic, China’s Civil Code presumes they mean the same, and an inconsistency is interpreted from the related clauses, the contract’s nature and purpose, and good faith (Article 466).
• What should I check in a China contract before signing? Check seven commercial points before signing a China contract: the counterparty’s exact registered Chinese name, and a chop that matches it; price and currency; what triggers each payment; delivery and acceptance; termination, and what happens to money already paid; which language version prevails; and the dispute venue, which is a question for a licensed lawyer.

Negotiation

• What does a negotiation interpreter do in a China business meeting? An interpreter in a China business meeting renders what each side says into the other language, faithfully and usually consecutively, after the speaker pauses. Negotiation support is a different engagement: the person sits on your side of the table, works from your brief, reads how the counterpart is signalling, and puts your positions on your instructions.

Compliance

• What annual filings must a Chinese company make? A Chinese company files its corporate income tax annual return (汇算清缴) within five months of the year end and its annual report (年报) through the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, under the national rule by 30 June. The year-end financial report is audited as the law provides, and monthly or quarterly tax returns continue, nil ones included.
• How do I close (deregister) a company in China? A company in China is closed by liquidating it and then deregistering it (注销). The directors form a liquidation group, creditors are notified and an announcement is made, staff, taxes and debts are settled, the tax bureau confirms clearance, and the registry cancels the registration. A simplified route exists for debt-free companies whose shareholders all sign an undertaking.
• Does the 30 June 2027 registered capital deadline apply to my company? Only if your company was registered on or before 30 June 2024, its capital is not yet fully paid, and its articles set a contribution deadline after 30 June 2032. Then the articles must be amended before 30 June 2027. Otherwise nothing needs doing. The 2027 date is for the amendment, not for the money.

Working with us

• What is WeCom, and can I reach you on ordinary WeChat? WeCom (企业微信) is Tencent’s business edition of WeChat. Companies in China use it for work communication, and it connects with ordinary WeChat: a WeChat user can scan a WeCom contact card, add the contact and message them, with nothing new to install. The WeCom codes on this site work exactly that way.
• Can we work with you entirely from Europe or North America? Yes. Yimi China’s enquiries, proposals, advice letters and contract reviews all run remotely, by email, WhatsApp and WeCom, and interpreting and negotiation support can run by video. Company registration mostly runs remotely too. Someone needs to be physically present only for a meeting or trade fair in China.

Comparisons

Side-by-side answers to the “which of these do I actually need?” questions, where the wrong choice is usually caused by not knowing the two things are different.

• WFOE, representative office, or no entity at all? A WFOE can trade, invoice and hire, and carries full accounting, tax and audit obligations. A representative office cannot trade at all (Order 584, Article 13), cannot employ Chinese staff directly, and pays corporate income tax on a deemed profit of at least 15%. No entity is the right answer more often than people expect.