.cn

Overview

• .cn is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the People's Republic of China.
• Introduced on 28 November 1990 and administered by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), a public institution affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
• The domain is very popular in mainland China and is one of the largest ccTLDs by number of registered domains (19,562,007 domains as of 2024-08-29).
• Internationalized ccTLDs using Chinese characters exist: .中国 (Simplified Chinese) and .中國 (Traditional Chinese).

History

• Introduced: 28 November 1990.
• Registry/operator: China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC); sponsor: Chinese Academy of Sciences.
• ICANN approved CNNIC's internationalized country-code TLDs .中国 and .中國 on 25 June 2010; these were added to the DNS in July 2010.

Usage and Audience

• Intended for entities connected with China; widely used by businesses, organizations and institutions operating in mainland China.
• Common audiences:
  • Commercial enterprises and businesses using .com.cn or .cn domains
  • Research and academic institutions using .ac.cn
  • ISPs and internet service providers using .net.cn
  • Non-profit organizations using .org.cn or .公益.cn
  • Government, education and military bodies using restricted SLDs like .gov.cn, .edu.cn, .mil.cn
• Regional use: Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan entities commonly use their own ccTLDs (.hk, .mo, .tw), though corresponding second-level .cn domains for these regions exist (hk.cn, mo.cn, tw.cn).

Registration Rules

• Registration levels:
  • Names can be registered at the second level (example.cn) or at the third level under generic or provincial-level second-level domains (example.com.cn, example.bj.cn).
• Generic second-level domains (selection):
  • Open registration: ac.cn (research), com.cn (enterprises), net.cn (internet service organizations), org.cn (not-for-profit)
  • Restricted: edu.cn (educational institutions), gov.cn (government organizations), mil.cn (national defense)
  • Additional SLDs in use or defined by policy: .政务.cn (party and government services), .公益.cn (non-profit organizations)
• Provincial/administrative second-level domains (open registration) — 34 region codes, e.g.:
  • ah.cn (Anhui), bj.cn (Beijing), cq.cn (Chongqing), fj.cn (Fujian), gd.cn (Guangdong), gs.cn (Gansu), gz.cn (Guizhou), gx.cn (Guangxi), ha.cn (Henan), hb.cn (Hubei), he.cn (Hebei), hi.cn (Hainan), hk.cn (Hong Kong), hl.cn (Heilongjiang), hn.cn (Hunan), jl.cn (Jilin), js.cn (Jiangsu), jx.cn (Jiangxi), ln.cn (Liaoning), mo.cn (Macao), nm.cn (Inner Mongolia), nx.cn (Ningxia), qh.cn (Qinghai), sc.cn (Sichuan), sd.cn (Shandong), sh.cn (Shanghai), sn.cn (Shaanxi), sx.cn (Shanxi), tj.cn (Tianjin), tw.cn (Taiwan), xj.cn (Xinjiang), xz.cn (Xizang/Tibet), yn.cn (Yunnan), zj.cn (Zhejiang).
• Character and formatting rules:
  • Allowed characters: English letters (A–Z, case-insensitive), digits (0–9), and the ASCII hyphen (-).
  • Spaces and special characters (e.g., !, $, &, ?) are not permitted.
  • Hyphen rules: cannot appear consecutively, cannot be the first or last character, cannot be registered alone.
  • Maximum length: up to 63 characters for ASCII registrations. For Chinese-language registrations the maximum is determined after punycode conversion.
• Operational and content restrictions:
  • Registries and registrars operating under .cn must maintain emergency response backup systems within China and regularly back up registration data.
  • Domain registration and provision of services are prohibited for names containing content that violates Chinese law or administrative regulations, including items such as content against the Constitution, jeopardizing national security, harming national honor, incitement of ethnic hostility, cult or superstition propagation, pornography, violence, rumors disturbing public order, insults/defamation, or other prohibited content.

Notable Cases or Examples

• .cn is one of the largest ccTLDs in the world by number of registered domains.
• CNNIC has proposed other Chinese-character generic names (for example, Chinese equivalents of .com and .net) that have been used domestically; however, not all such proposals have been recognized by ICANN for delegation at the global DNS root.

% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       CN

organisation: China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC)
address:      Building 4, No.9 Beijing Auto Museum West Road, Fengtai District
address:      Beijing 100070
address:      China

contact:      administrative
name:         Yulin Liu
organisation: China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC)
address:      Building 4, No.9 West Road , Automobile Museum, Fengtai District
address:      Beijing 100070
address:      China
phone:        +8610-58813000
fax-no:       +8610-59116190
e-mail:       ceo@cnnic.cn

contact:      technical
name:         Anlei Hu
organisation: China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC)
address:      Building 4, No.9 West Road , Automobile Museum, Fengtai District
address:      Beijing 100070
address:      China
phone:        +8610-59116801
fax-no:       +8610-59116190
e-mail:       tech@cnnic.cn

nserver:      A.DNS.CN 2001:dc7:0:0:0:0:0:1 203.119.25.1
nserver:      B.DNS.CN 2001:dc7:1:0:0:0:0:1 203.119.26.1
nserver:      C.DNS.CN 2001:dc7:2:0:0:0:0:1 203.119.27.1
nserver:      D.DNS.CN 2001:dc7:1000:0:0:0:0:1 203.119.28.1
nserver:      E.DNS.CN 2001:dc7:3:0:0:0:0:1 203.119.29.1
nserver:      NS.CERNET.NET 202.112.0.44
ds-rdata:     33094 8 2 cccf13ed73a83244f7d2936f0b6c3507d85c3ebc5e1be4fb644064bc5b5fe3b2

whois:        whois.cnnic.cn

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://www.cnnic.cn/

created:      1990-11-28
changed:      2025-07-17
source:       IANA