.cn is the

country code top-level domain A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It ...

(

ccTLD A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It ...

) for the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones ...

introduced on 28 November 1990. Domain name administration in mainland China is managed through a branch of the Ministry of Industry and Information. The registry is maintained by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). Entities connected to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China China, officially the P ...

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is ...

, and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China China, officially the People's R ...

often use .hk, .mo, .tw respectively, despite their corresponding second-level domains under .cn available for those regions. The Chinese script internationalized country codes are ".中国" (Simplified Chinese) and ".中國" (Traditional Chinese): both have been reserved but the former is more in line with present-day mainland Chinese orthography.

Second-level domains

Any individual may register for second-level domain names. However, the registry has created a set of predefined second-level domains for certain types of organizations and geographic locations. Registrations for such third-level domains were available before second-level domains became available in 2003, and registrants of third-level domains were given priority for names at the second level.

Generic second-level domains

* ''ac''.cn : Academic and research institutions * ''com''.cn : Industrial, commercial, financial enterprises and individuals * ''edu''.cn : Educational institutions (usually universities and colleges) * ''gov''.cn : Government departments (both central and local governments) * ''mil''.cn : Military organizations * ''net''.cn : Networks, NICs and NOCs * ''org''.cn : Non-profit organizations

Second-level domains of provinces

The two-letter abbreviations are the same as those found in the People's Republic of China National Standards "Codes for the administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China (GB/T 2260-2002)." * ''ah''.cn :

Anhui Province Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation A nation is a commun ...

* ''bj''.cn : Beijing Municipality * ''cq''.cn : Chongqing Municipality * ''fj''.cn :

Fujian Province Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation A nation is ...

* ''gd''.cn :

Guangdong Province Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation ...

* ''gs''.cn :

Gansu Province Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation A nation is a community of p ...

* ''gz''.cn :

Guizhou Province Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation A nation is a community of p ...

* ''gx''.cn : Guangxi Province * ''ha''.cn :

Henan Province Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan Zhongyuan (), the Central Plain(s), also known as Zhongtu (, lit. 'central land') and Zh ...

* ''hb''.cn :

Hubei Province Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation A nation is a community of ...

* ''he''.cn :

Hebei Province Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation A nation is a communi ...

* ''hi''.cn : Hainan Province * ''hl''.cn : Heilongjiang Province * ''hk''.cn : Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ** .hk is more commonly used * ''hn''.cn :

Hunan Province Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation A nation is a community of people formed on th ...

* ''jl''.cn :

Jilin Province Jilin (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea ( Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia ...

* ''js''.cn :

Jiangsu Province Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

* ''jx''.cn : Jiangxi Province * ''ln''.cn : Liaoning Province * ''mo''.cn : Macau Special Administrative Region ** .mo is more commonly used * ''nm''.cn : Nei Mongol Autonomous Region * ''nx''.cn :

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (P ...

* ''qh''.cn :

Qinghai Province Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country A country is a distinct part of the world, such ...

* ''sc''.cn :

Sichuan Province Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province A province is almost always an admi ...

* ''sd''.cn :

Shandong Province Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation A nation ...

* ''sh''.cn : Shanghai Municipality * ''sn''.cn :

Shaanxi Province Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation A nation is a c ...

* ''sx''.cn :

Shanxi Province Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation A nation is a com ...

* ''tj''.cn : Tianjin Municipality * ''tw''.cn : Taiwan Province ** .tw is more commonly used * ''xj''.cn : Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region * ''xz''.cn : Xizang Autonomous Region * ''yn''.cn :

Yunnan Province Yunnan , () is a landlocked province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation A nation is a community of people formed on t ...

* ''zj''.cn :

Zhejiang Province Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation A ...

Internationalized domain names with Chinese characters

Internationalized domain name An internationalized domain name (IDN) is an Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It ...

s with Chinese characters may be registered at the second level under the .cn

top-level domain A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the ...

. On 25 June 2010,

ICANN The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is an American multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespac ...

approved the use of the internationalized country code top-level domains ".中国" (''China'' in

simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters used in mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore, as prescribed by the '' Table of General Standard Chinese Characters''. Along with traditional Chinese characters Tr ...

, DNS name ''xn--fiqs8s'') and ".中國" (''China'' in

traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are one type of standard Chinese character sets of the contemporary written Chinese. The traditional characters had taken shapes since the clerical change and mostly remained in the same structure they took ...

, DNS name ''xn--fiqz9s'') by CNNIC. These two TLDs were added to the DNS in July 2010. CNNIC proposed around this time Chinese

domain name A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protoc ...

s in ".公司" (".com" in Chinese) and ".网络" (".net" in Chinese). However, these have not been recognized by

yet and are only available via domestic

domain name registrar A domain name registrar is a company that manages the reservation of Internet domain names. A domain name registrar must be accredited by a generic top-level domain (gTLD) registry or a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registry. A regi ...

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

References

Provisional Administrative Rules for Registration of Domain Names in China

External links