.cn

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Internet country-code top level domain for the People's Republic of China

title: ".cn" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["country-code-top-level-domains", "internet-in-china", "1990-establishments-in-china", "internet-properties-established-in-1990"] description: "Internet country-code top level domain for the People's Republic of China" topic_path: "geography/china" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.cn" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Internet country-code top level domain for the People's Republic of China ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox Top level domain"]

FieldValue
name.cn
introduced28 November 1990
typeCountry code top-level domain
statusActive
registryChina Internet Network Information Center
sponsorChinese Academy of Sciences
registereddomains19,562,007
dateregistereddomains2024-08-29
refregistereddomains
actualuseVery popular in mainland China
intendeduseEntities connected with China
structureNames can be registered either at the second level, or at the third level under the generic or provincial-level administrative divisions second-level domains
documentChina Internet Domain Name Regulations
disputepolicyChina ccTLD Dispute Resolution Policy and China ccTLD Dispute Resolution Policy Rules
website
::

|name=.cn |image= |introduced=28 November 1990 |type=Country code top-level domain |status=Active |registry=China Internet Network Information Center |sponsor=Chinese Academy of Sciences | registereddomains=19,562,007 | dateregistereddomains=2024-08-29 | refregistereddomains= | actualuse=Very popular in mainland China |intendeduse=Entities connected with China |structure=Names can be registered either at the second level, or at the third level under the generic or provincial-level administrative divisions second-level domains |document=China Internet Domain Name Regulations |disputepolicy=China ccTLD Dispute Resolution Policy and China ccTLD Dispute Resolution Policy Rules |website= |}}

.cn is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the People's Republic of China. Introduced on 28 November 1990, the domain is administered by China Internet Network Information Center, a public institution affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The domain is the largest ccTLD in the world.

The Chinese script internationalized country codes are ".中国" ("China" in Simplified Chinese) and ".中國" ("China" in Traditional Chinese). Entities connected to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan typically use .hk, .mo, and .tw, respectively, despite the availability of corresponding second-level domains under .cn for those regions.

Second-level domains

Domain names can be registered either at the second level, or at the third level under the generic or provincial-level administrative divisions second-level domains.

Generic second-level domains

According to the "China Internet Domain Name System" published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, there are 9 generic second-level domains, two of which are internationalized:

Open registration

  • ac.cn : Scientific research institutions
  • com.cn : Industrial, commercial, financial, and other enterprises
  • net.cn : Organizations providing Internet services
  • org.cn : Not-for-profit organizations

Registration restricted

  • edu.cn : Educational institutions in China
  • gov.cn : Chinese government organizations
  • mil.cn : Chinese military-affiliated organizations

Provincial-level administrative divisions second-level domains

The two-letter abbreviations correlate with ISO 3166-2 "Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions—Part 2: Country subdivision code" (adapted locally as National Standard GB/T 2659.2). The provincial-level administrative divisions second-level domains are with the open-registration policy. According to the "China Internet Domain Name System" published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, there are 34 administrative division second-level domains:

Internationalized domains

Internationalized domain names with Chinese characters may be registered at the second level under the .cn top-level domain.

On 25 June 2010, ICANN approved the use of the internationalized country code top-level domains ".中国" (China in simplified Chinese characters, DNS name xn--fiqs8s) and ".中國" (China in traditional Chinese characters, DNS name xn--fiqz9s) by CNNIC. These two TLDs were added to the DNS in July 2010.

CNNIC proposed around this time Chinese domain names in ".公司" (".com" in Chinese) and ".网络" (".net" in Chinese). However, these have not been recognized by ICANN yet and are only available via domestic domain name registrars.

Around 15 other generic domain names with Chinese characters have later been registered. See List of Internet top-level domains#Chinese characters.

References

References

  1. "The Internet Timeline of China 1986~2003".
  2. (2024-08-29). "The 54th Statistical Report on China's Internet Development".
  3. DENIC. (July 2017). "Comparison of international Domain Numbers Top 10 largest TLDs list.".
  4. "Leading ccTLDs by number of domains 2023".
  5. (2020-09-16). "Country domains: a comprehensive ccTLD list".
  6. link
  7. 曾建勋. (2022-12-30). link
  8. (25 June 2010). "Adopted Board Resolutions". ICANN.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

country-code-top-level-domainsinternet-in-china1990-establishments-in-chinainternet-properties-established-in-1990