How to Verify a Chinese Manufacturer Using Qichacha and Tianyancha

Qichacha (企查查) and Tianyancha (天眼查) are the two most popular Chinese business registry lookup services — the equivalent of pulling a company's official registration record. They let you check a supplier's real status for free before sending any money: registration date, legal address, business activity type, and any lawsuits on record. Here's how to use them, even if you don't read Chinese.

How to find a company on these services

Go to qcc.com or tianyancha.com and search either the exact company name in Chinese (usually shown on the seller's site or in the contract) or its registration number (统一社会信用代码, typically listed in the business license section on Alibaba or 1688). If you only know the company name in English, it's better to ask the supplier for the exact Chinese spelling — a direct translation often doesn't match the official registration.

What to look at in the company profile

The registration date (成立日期) shows how long the company has actually existed — if a supplier claims 10 years in business but registration shows a couple of months, that's worth questioning. The legal address (注册地址) should be checked against the address the supplier gives you — a mismatch isn't always a red flag, but it warrants a follow-up question. Registered capital (注册资本) hints at company scale, though in China this figure is often declarative and doesn't necessarily reflect money actually paid in.

How to tell manufacturing from trading by activity code

In the business scope section (经营范围), look for key terms: 制造 or 生产 indicate manufacturing, while 批发 or 贸易 point to wholesale trading or intermediary activity. If the activity description lists many unrelated product categories at once, that's also usually a sign of a trading company rather than a factory with a narrow specialization.

Red flags in the company's history

Both services show legal disputes (法律诉讼), which are worth at least a quick scan — a single commercial dispute isn't always critical, but repeated lawsuits over unmet obligations are a serious signal. Also check the company status (企业状态): if it shows 吊销 (revoked) or 注销 (deregistered), the company no longer legally exists, and you shouldn't do business with it even if the website and correspondence look active.

The limits of this method

Qichacha and Tianyancha confirm that a company legally exists and that its activity matches what's claimed, but they don't guarantee product quality or good faith in a specific deal — a legally clean company can still delay a shipment or send defective goods. This is a first, basic layer of verification, not a substitute for an in-person factory visit or an independent pre-shipment inspection.