.cn

.cn

Introduced	28 November 1990[1]
TLD type	Country code top-level domain
Status	Active
Registry	China Internet Network Information Center
Sponsor	Chinese Academy of Sciences
Intended use	Entities connected with China
Actual use	Very popular in mainland China[2]
Registered domains	19,562,007 (2024-08-29)[3]
Structure	Names may be registered directly at the second level or at the third level within generic second-level categories or Chinese province codes
Documents	China Internet Domain Name Regulations
Dispute policies	China ccTLD Dispute Resolution Policy and China ccTLD Dispute Resolution Policy Rules
Registry website	cnnic.cn

.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.^[4]

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,^[5] despite the availability of corresponding second-level domains under .cn for those regions.

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:^[6]

• ac.cn : Scientific research institutions
• com.cn : Industrial, commercial, financial, and other enterprises
• edu.cn : Education institutions (registration restricted)
• gov.cn : Chinese government organizations (registration restricted)
• mil.cn : Chinese national defense organizations (registration restricted)
• net.cn : Organizations providing Internet services
• org.cn : Not-for-profit organizations
• 政务.cn : Party and government services (registration restricted)
• 公益.cn : Not-for-profit organizations (non-profit organization registration required)

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^[7]). According to the "China Internet Domain Name System"^[6] published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, there are 34 administrative division second-level domains:

• ah.cn : Anhui Province
• bj.cn : Beijing Municipality
• cq.cn : Chongqing Municipality
• fj.cn : Fujian Province
• gd.cn : Guangdong Province
• gs.cn : Gansu Province
• gz.cn : Guizhou Province
• gx.cn : Guangxi Province
• ha.cn : Henan Province
• hb.cn : Hubei Province
• he.cn : Hebei Province
• hi.cn : Hainan Province
• hk.cn : Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
• hl.cn : Heilongjiang Province
• hn.cn : Hunan Province
• jl.cn : Jilin Province
• js.cn : Jiangsu Province
• jx.cn : Jiangxi Province
• ln.cn : Liaoning Province
• mo.cn : Macao Special Administrative Region
• nm.cn : Nei Mongol Autonomous Region
• nx.cn : Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region
• qh.cn : Qinghai Province
• sc.cn : Sichuan Province
• sd.cn : Shandong Province
• sh.cn : Shanghai Municipality
• sn.cn : Shaanxi Province
• sx.cn : Shanxi Province
• tj.cn : Tianjin Municipality
• tw.cn : Taiwan Province
• xj.cn : Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
• xz.cn : Xizang Autonomous Region
• yn.cn : Yunnan Province
• zj.cn : Zhejiang Province

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.^[8] 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.

• .hk (Hong Kong)
• .mo (Macau)
• .tw (Taiwan)

• China Internet Domain Name Regulations

• Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Domain Name Industry Management Information Public Notice
• China Internet Network Information Center
• Accredited Registrar List
• IANA WHOIS for .cn