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.cn
Introduced	28 November 1990
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
Registered domains	19,562,007 (2024-08-29)
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.

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:^[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)

Second-level domains of Administrative Divisions

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"^[8] 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

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.^[9] 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

^ "The Internet Timeline of China 1986~2003". China Internet Network Information Center. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
^ DENIC (July 2017). "Comparison of international Domain Numbers Top 10 largest TLDs list". Archived from the original on 2017-07-07. Retrieved 2017-07-25.
^ "The 54th Statistical Report on China's Internet Development" (PDF). China Internet Network Information Center. 2024-08-29. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-09-06. Retrieved 2024-09-06.
^ "Leading ccTLDs by number of domains 2023". Statista. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
^ "Country domains: a comprehensive ccTLD list". IONOS Digital Guide. 2020-09-16. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
^ 中国互联网域名体系. 工业和信息化部域名行业管理信息公示. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
^ 曾建勋; 刘春燕; 赵琪; 李学军 (2022-12-30). 世界各国和地区及其行政区划名称代码第 2 部分：行政区划代码. 全国标准信息公共服务平台. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
^ 中国互联网域名体系. 工业和信息化部域名行业管理信息公示. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
^ "Adopted Board Resolutions". Brussels: ICANN. 25 June 2010. Retrieved 2012-01-15.