Many overseas buyers assume that checking a Chinese company’s background is “too hard”: everything is in Chinese, the systems are scattered, and the legal language is confusing. As a result, they end up relying on Alibaba badges, Google searches and whatever documents the supplier chooses to send. The problem is that the real signals that determine whether your money is safe are not in the glossy photos, but in dull-looking official records: is this company legally registered, is it still active, how many court cases has it been involved in, and is it on any enforcement or blacklist. The good news: most of this information is public. The challenge is turning “Chinese legal jargon” into risk insights you can actually use.
Step 1: Get the two key identifiers – full Chinese name + unified social credit code
An English trade name like “ABC Lighting Co.” is not enough. In China, dozens of entities can use similar English names, and some may not be registered at all. What you need is the full legal name in Chinese, exactly as it appears on the business license, plus the 18-digit “unified social credit code” (think of it as the company’s ID number). A legitimate company can provide these instantly, usually along with a copy of the business license and bank information. With the Chinese name and code, you can be sure that the records you find in registration and court systems belong to the same entity that will sign your contract and receive your payments.
Step 2: Check whether the company is really “alive” – and in what condition
Using the Chinese name and code, you can look up a basic profile in government-run credit systems: date of incorporation, registered capital, legal representative, shareholder structure, registered address, business scope and, crucially, current status. Healthy companies are listed as “active” or “in business”. If you see “revoked”, “deregistered” or entries in “abnormal operations” or “serious violations” lists, it means regulators have already flagged issues (see our list of 10 red flags). As a buyer you don’t need to master the fine legal distinctions. What matters is a simple translation of the result into a risk level: “healthy”, “questionable”, or “high risk” – and then adjust your order size and payment terms accordingly.
Step 3: Look at what kinds of disputes they’ve had in court – and how often
Many problematic suppliers have beautiful websites but a messy court history. Public judgment databases show civil and commercial cases involving a company: are they frequently sued by customers for non-delivery or quality issues, or by suppliers for unpaid invoices? Are the disputes about small amounts or large claims? Any company can have one or two cases over many years. The red flag pattern is a cluster of similar disputes over a short period, especially around sales contracts and payments. You don’t have to read every judgment word for word. What you need is someone to extract key facts: how many cases, what types, roughly how much money, and in which years they occurred.
Step 4: Check enforcement and “blacklists” – this speaks to their ability and willingness to pay
Court cases are about arguments. Enforcement and blacklists are about whether the company actually pays what it owes. Two types of records are particularly important: “enforcement” cases (where the court is actively trying to make them pay) and “dishonest person” entries (where the court has concluded they have the ability to pay but refuse to do so). These records usually list the amount under enforcement, the unpaid balance and the filing date. If a factory is carrying several enforcement cases or appears on the dishonest blacklist, your deposit and balance payment risk is objectively higher than with a clean competitor. That doesn’t automatically mean you must cancel all business with them, but it does mean: smaller orders, more staged payments, third-party inspection as standard, and a strong focus on finding cleaner alternatives.
Step 5: Turn scattered Chinese records into a usable “risk profile” you can act on
For most overseas buyers, the painful part is not access, but interpretation. Screenshots, URLs and PDFs full of Chinese characters do not tell you what to do. What you really need is a short, decision-focused summary that answers questions like:
- How long has this company been around – is it a real factory or a fresh shell?
- Is its official status normal or has it been flagged by authorities?
- How many contract and payment disputes has it had, and how big were they?
- Is it currently under enforcement or on any dishonest blacklist?
- Given all this, is it suitable only for small test orders, or can it become a core supplier over time?
A good background check report is essentially a translation layer: it takes complex Chinese records and turns them into one page of clear English conclusions and recommendations, so you can explain to your team (and yourself) why you are comfortable sending a certain amount of money to this factory on specific terms.
Conclusion: you don’t have to read Chinese, but you shouldn’t give up your right to see the facts
Not speaking Chinese does not mean you must close your eyes and trust whatever the supplier shows you. It means you should be more deliberate about having someone on the ground translate public but hard-to-read information into a simple risk view: roughly which risk band this factory sits in, and where you need extra protection through contracts, payment structure and inspections. The real question before you wire tens of thousands of dollars is simple: “Have I actually seen this factory’s real file in China, or am I acting on assumptions?” If the honest answer is “no”, then commissioning a background check is often the lowest-cost, highest-return step you can take before committing serious money.