The .CN domain is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the People's Republic of China, managed by CNNIC.
Why do we advise against registering a .CN domain? We will analyze this in detail in this article:
Years ago, in order to expand its influence and registration numbers, the .CN domain saw massive price cuts. Many domestic registrars even launched promotions allowing users to register .CN domains for just 1 RMB (approx. $0.15), which was far below the price of other top-level domains. This led to .CN becoming extremely popular among individuals, forums, and pornographic websites, skyrocketing its registration volume to become the second-largest ccTLD, second only to the free .tk domain.
Later, because the low entry price flooded the .CN namespace with illegal content, porn, and scams, CNNIC adjusted its policies. They began requiring domains to undergo an "ICP Filing" (likely due to China's "Real-name Internet" regulations). Failure to comply results in the domain being placed on clientHold (suspension of DNS resolution).
I. Characteristics of .CN Domains
1. No Whois Privacy Protection
When registering most domains worldwide, providers offer free or paid privacy protection. This service is designed to protect the registrant's personal information from spam calls, junk mail, and other intrusions. However, .CN domains generally do not support this.
2. Real-name Verification / ICP Filing Issues
ICP Filing/Real-name verification is mandatory for registering a .CN domain. This indirectly means you cannot use any fake information for your Whois data. Furthermore, the filing cycle is long; it might take up to a month after registration before your domain can actually go live.
PS: Individual filings cannot contain any commercial content, and even "donations" are prohibited.
3. Risk of Reclamation (Seizure)
Due to CNNIC policies, the domain you purchase doesn't belong to you in the same way other domains do. It's more akin to a lease relationship. CNNIC can take back a domain they don't want you to have or one that doesn't meet regulations at any time. This is particularly risky for websites that have reached a certain scale.
4. Cannot Delete or Cancel the Domain
You cannot delete a .CN domain before it expires. You can only change the email in the Whois information or transfer it to someone else.
5. Volatile Policies (High Policy Risk)
CNNIC's policies change frequently. One moment they only allow enterprises to register (making individual registrations technically violations), the next moment they ban this or that. The list of sensitive keywords is complex and extensive, making it hard to guarantee that your site won't accidentally violate a CNNIC policy.
{dotted startColor="#ff6c6c" endColor="#1989fa"/}
II. Notable .CN Domain Incidents
1. The Bullog (NiuBoWang) Incident
On January 9, 2009, the .CN domain of the well-known Chinese blog site "Bullog" became inaccessible. Luo Yonghao, the person in charge of the site, revealed that he received a notice from the service provider HiChina (Wanwang), stating that the blog contained "harmful information" and was required to be rectified. Consequently, HiChina stopped the resolution of the .CN domain. Shortly after receiving this letter, Luo Yonghao received a call from his server hosting provider, claiming the data center received a notice from the Communications Administration Bureau requiring them to shut down Bullog. Thus, the site went offline.
At the time, Bullog, hosted on a .CN domain, gathered a group of famous writers like Liang Wendao, Han Han, Lian Yue, and Chai Jing. Its daily traffic had broken one million visits, and it was at its peak. However, precisely because it used a .CN domain, it couldn't avoid the risk when policy headwinds hit. The website's traffic vanished rapidly. A few years later, the domain name itself was inexplicably taken by someone else.
2. The wuminxia.cn Reclamation Incident
In 2008, someone registered wuminxia.cn using the pinyin of the Olympic diving champion Wu Minxia. The domain was subsequently forcibly reclaimed by CNNIC and handed over to the General Administration of Sport of China. This domain was later registered by UCWeb on February 28, 2021.
There are many more "impressive" feats by CNNIC that you can find by searching "CNNIC" on Wikipedia.
From this, it is clear that individuals or companies registering and using .CN domains bear significant risks. A single comment or a short paragraph on your website could cause your entire domain to be placed on clientHold (suspended resolution) or forcibly reclaimed.
Sometimes, a domain represents a brand, an ideal, or a belief.
However, some people don't understand this. Growing an excellent domain requires a massive amount of time and energy from the webmaster and the entire development team. Constantly updating content, beautifying the site, optimizing for user access times, and considering accessibility... making a domain influential globally takes countless hours of SEO optimization. Yet, sometimes, simply because a domain is related to a specific person, or the site hosts some radical speech, the crystallization of years of hard work by many people can be forcibly destroyed. This is not a beautiful Internet.
Comments NOTHING