Do I need a Chinese company to sell in China?

The expensive mistake in this direction is registering a company because it feels like the serious thing to do, then discovering the entity costs more to keep compliant than the market returns for two or three years. An entity is a tool with running costs — bookkeeping, tax filings, an annual report, and an exit that takes the better part of a year if you later want out. Register one when something specific requires it.

The four routes

Route	Chinese entity needed?	Suits
Cross-border e-commerce	No	Consumer brands testing demand; beauty, supplements, specialty food
Chinese distributor or agent	No	B2B and most industrial products
Representative office	Yes, limited form	Liaison and market research only — cannot invoice
Wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE)	Yes	Local invoicing, local hiring, local inventory, sustained operations

The triggers that genuinely require an entity

• You must issue Chinese tax invoices (发票) to domestic customers in RMB.
• You need to hold inventory in China in your own name and sell it domestically.
• You need to employ people in China directly, on Chinese contracts.
• Your activity needs a licence or filing that only a Chinese legal person can hold.
• A major customer or platform requires a domestic contracting counterparty.

If none of those apply yet, a distributor or cross-border channel usually gets you into the market faster, cheaper and more reversibly. You can always register later, and you will register better once you know the market.

What to do first regardless

Register your trademark. China is first-to-file, so the person who registers your brand generally owns it there — and the most common bad-faith filings come from suppliers, distributors and agents you are about to start talking to. Trademark protection is not a step in the entity process; it comes before the conversations, whichever route you take.