Doing business in China, decided properly before it is registered
Market entry, company registration, hiring, partners, brand protection and the compliance that keeps it all standing. Fixed fees, no commission from anyone but you, and a straight answer when the answer is “don’t.”
Do you actually need a Chinese entity?
The single most expensive mistake in China is registering a company you did not need — or registering the wrong one. This is the comparison a corporate-services firm has no incentive to show you.
| Route | Right when | Invoice in RMB? | Employ people? | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No entity export / cross-border e-commerce | You sell to a Chinese importer, distributor or platform and are paid offshore | No — your buyer imports | No | Nil |
| Employer of record | You want 1–10 people on the ground while you test the market | No | Yes, via the EOR | ≈US$800–1,500 / person / month |
| Representative office | Liaison, market research and quality oversight only | No — it cannot trade | Via a dispatch agency only | Low to open, taxed on expenses |
| WFOE wholly foreign-owned company | You must invoice in RMB, hire directly, hold a licence or run a site | Yes, with fapiao | Yes, directly | US$2,300–12,000 setup, then annual compliance |
Market ranges, verified July 2026. They are here so you can price-check any proposal you receive — including ours.
Five engagements companies entering China keep needing
Each is a standalone, fixed-fee engagement. You can take one and stop.
Market Entry & Structure Advisory
Whether to enter, how, and with what structure
Company Setup & Compliance Coordination
Registration coordinated; licensed firms do the regulated work
Partner, Distributor & Agent Search
Find and vet a Chinese distributor or partner
Trademark Strategy & Filing Coordination
Class strategy, clearance reading, agency coordination
China E-Commerce Readiness Pack
Everything the platforms now ask a foreign brand for
Annual Compliance Check & Company Exit
Independent health check, or a managed exit
Where companies actually lose money in China
Not in the setup fee. In four failures that all cost more to fix than to prevent.
The brand was registered by someone else
China is first-to-file. Your distributor, your supplier or a professional squatter registers your name in year one, and you find out in year three when you try to formalise. Filing early costs a few hundred dollars a class; buying your own name back does not.
Trademark & brand protectionThe business scope does not cover the invoice
Chinese companies may only invoice for what their registered scope permits. A scope copied from a template, or drafted too narrowly to save time, means you cannot issue a fapiao for your actual revenue — and amending it is a filing, a wait and a cost.
Structure & scope advisoryThe “distributor” has no distribution
Thousands of Chinese companies describe themselves as distributors; many are resellers with no retail network, and free introductions are paid for by the party being introduced. Exclusive national rights signed with the wrong one can freeze a brand out of its own market for years.
Partner & distributor searchThe dormant company nobody closed
A Chinese entity that stopped trading still needs audits, filings and an address — roughly US$8,000–15,000 a year. Deregistration takes 9–12 months, so two years of drift costs more than closing would have. Abandoning it is worse: licence revoked, legal representative restricted.
Compliance check & exitFive dates run a Chinese company’s calendar
Miss the 30 June annual report and the company is publicly listed as operating abnormally — visible to every bank, customer and partner who looks you up. Sustained non-compliance ends in fines, a restricted legal representative, and a revoked licence.
Compliance health checkWhat we are, and what we are not
What we do
- Commercial and structuring advice, in writing, with the reasoning shown
- Company registration coordinated end to end, with the licensed accounting firm selected and managed
- Market, partner and supplier research and verification
- Bilingual project management of your Chinese counterparties and bureaus
- Selecting, briefing and managing the licensed professionals a matter needs
What we are not
- Not a law firm — no legal opinions, contract drafting or representation
- Not an accounting or audit firm — bookkeeping, tax filing and the statutory audit are done by a licensed firm
- Not a trademark agency — filings are made by a CNIPA-registered agency, as the law requires
- Not a recruitment, staffing or labour-dispatch agency — we never recruit, employ, dispatch or payroll anyone
- Not an immigration adviser — no visa, residence permit, work permit or emigration assistance, for any country
- Not paid by anyone we introduce to you — no commissions, ever
Where a matter needs a licensed professional, we say so and bring one in. Blurring that line is how foreign companies end up with advice nobody stands behind.
Questions we hear from every first-time entrant
Do I need a Chinese company to do business in China?
Often not. If you export to a Chinese importer or distributor, or sell cross-border e-commerce, you can be paid offshore with no Chinese entity at all. You need one when you must invoice Chinese customers in RMB with a fapiao, employ people directly, hold a sector licence, or run a physical location. We answer this before you spend anything, because it is the only question on this page that can save you six figures.
Is my sector open to foreign investment in China?
Most are. China’s foreign investment negative list is at its shortest ever, and all remaining restrictions on manufacturing were lifted with effect from 1 November 2024. Trading, consulting and most modern services sit off the list and receive the same treatment as domestic investors. Basic and certain value-added telecoms, publishing, broadcasting, air transport and some resource sectors remain restricted or prohibited.
What does it cost to set up and run a company in China?
Setup runs roughly US$2,300 for a straightforward city-level service company to US$6,000–12,000 for an end-to-end engagement including banking and first-year compliance. The number that matters more is the running cost: a small entity still carries bookkeeping, tax filing, a statutory audit and an annual report every year, and a ten-person entity typically runs US$18,000–30,000 a year in accounting, tax and payroll compliance.
Are you a law firm or an accounting firm?
Neither, deliberately. We are business consultants. We advise on structure and strategy, coordinate registration, run searches and verification, and project-manage the licensed professionals — Chinese lawyers, licensed accounting firms, CNIPA-registered trademark agencies — where the law requires one. We do not keep books, file tax returns, perform audits, file trademarks or recruit, and we provide no visa, permit or immigration assistance of any kind.
How do you charge?
Fixed fees, agreed before work starts, with government and third-party fees passed through at cost and shown separately. We take no commission, finder’s fee or kickback from any distributor, supplier, EOR or service provider we introduce — our fee comes from you, so our recommendation can be the honest one.
Rules and figures on this page were verified in July 2026. This is general information, not legal or tax advice. A US$120 consult gets your own situation answered specifically — and is credited in full against any service you book.
Tell us what you're trying to do in China
Book a 45-minute consult. We map your situation to the right process, tell you honestly what is and is not possible, and give you a fixed fee. No obligation.
