.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 (the largest ccTLD)[2]
Registered domains	21 million (April 2017)[1]
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 (General)

.cn is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the People's Republic of China 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, Macau, and Taiwan often use .hk, .mo, .tw respectively, despite their corresponding second-level domains under .cn available for those regions. The Chinese alphabet internationalized country code is ".中国".

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)."^[3]

• 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
• hl.cn : Heilongjiang Province
• hk.cn : Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
  • .hk is more commonly used
• hn.cn : Hunan Province
• jl.cn : Jilin Province
• js.cn : Jiangsu Province
• 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
• 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
  • .tw is more commonly used
• 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

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.^[4] 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.