Verify Any Chinese Company on GSXT in 10 Minutes

Last updated: August 2026 · By the PandaRoads team in China

What Is GSXT and Who Runs It?

GSXT is the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, China's official business registry. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), the national market regulator, operates it. The system publishes registration data, annual reports, licenses, administrative penalties, and inspection results for every registered business, and public searching is free at gsxt.gov.cn.

SAMR's own government services portal lists the system under credit supervision, and SAMR has described it as the platform that aggregates registration records, annual reports, licenses, administrative penalties, and random-inspection results for all market entities in China (source). The system also runs an official mobile app, which describes itself as covering companies, farmer cooperatives, and individual businesses nationwide (source).

How Do I Find a Company's Unified Social Credit Code?

Ask for the business license. Every Chinese company prints its 18-character Unified Social Credit Code (USCC) on the license, and the code follows national standard GB 32100-2015. It also appears on contracts and invoices, and most supplier profiles on Alibaba and similar platforms list it under company details.

The code works like a company ID number: unique per entity, valid for the entity's lifetime, and issued by the national code center that manages the standard (source). It is 18 characters long, a mix of digits and capital letters, and the standard excludes the letters I, O, Z, S, and V to avoid confusion (source).

If a supplier hesitates to share a license photo, treat that as a finding on its own. You only need two things for the search: the code, or the exact Chinese name printed on the license.

What Exactly Can I Check on GSXT?

The public record shows the registered name, legal representative, registered capital, registered address, business scope, and business status, plus administrative penalties, entries on the Operating Abnormal List and serious-violation lists, licenses, and every annual report filed since the system launched.

• Business status: 存续 means active, 注销 means deregistered, 吊销 means the license was revoked. Anything other than active needs an explanation.
• Annual reports: filed every year between January 1 and June 30, per the Interim Regulations on Enterprise Information Disclosure (source). Filing is free of charge (source).
• Administrative penalties: fines and other sanctions issued by regulators, each with the deciding authority and date.
• Operating Abnormal List: companies flagged for failing to comply with disclosure rules (details below).

The categories mirror what SAMR says the system collects: registration, annual reports, licenses, administrative penalties, and random inspections (source).

How Do I Run the Check Step by Step?

Open gsxt.gov.cn in a desktop browser, paste the 18-digit code or the exact Chinese company name into the search box, and open the matching record. Then read four things in order: business status, annual reports, penalties, and the abnormal list. Ten minutes covers it, even with a translation tab open.

1. Go to gsxt.gov.cn. The site is Chinese-only, but the search box sits right under the header. Ignore any third-party copycat domains that ask for payment.
2. Paste the 18-digit Unified Social Credit Code, or type the exact Chinese name from the license. The search box also accepts the old registration number (source).
3. Open the record whose registered name matches what the supplier sent you. Compare character by character; a name that differs by one character is a different company.
4. Read the business status first. 存续 (active) is what you want. 注销 (deregistered) or 吊销 (revoked license) ends the conversation.
5. Open the annual report tab. Look for a report filed in the current year or, at worst, the year before. Several years with no reports is a serious signal.
6. Scan the penalty and abnormal-list tabs. Every administrative penalty entry lists the authority and date, so you can see whether violations are old or recent.
7. Compare the registered address with the address on the supplier's emails, invoices, and website. A mismatch is exactly the pattern the fake-factory scam relies on.

What Does a Red Flag Look Like?

Any of these should pause a payment: the company sits on the Operating Abnormal List, especially for "cannot be reached at registered address"; it carries unpaid or repeated administrative penalties; its license is revoked or the business is deregistered; no annual report appears for two or more years; or the registered name differs from what the seller calls itself.

The Operating Abnormal List has exactly four statutory grounds, set out in the Measures for the Administration of the Operating Abnormal List (source): failing to file the annual report on time, failing to publish required disclosures, publishing false or misleading information, and being unreachable at the registered address. The last one is the scariest in practice, because it is the exact condition scammers create when they list a rented or nonexistent address.

This is the same territory our China supplier scams guide covers: every one of the common scams leaves a trace on GSXT if you look in the right tab.

What If the Check Comes Back Clean?

A clean record is necessary, not sufficient. It confirms a registered company exists and keeps its filings current, but it does not prove that the person emailing you is that company. Confirm the receiving bank account matches the registered name, order a sample, and for larger deposits consider an on-site visit.

Think of the layers: GSXT proves the paper exists. A sample proves the product exists. An on-site visit, the kind we run at $239 per day with same-day photos, proves the factory exists at the address. Each layer costs more than the last, and each one is worth it at a different deposit size.

If you only want the first layer done properly, that's the $99 remote verification: we run the full GSXT check for the company you name, screenshot every relevant tab, translate the record into English, compare the registered address against the address the supplier uses, and flag anything odd. You get it within 2 business days, following the same report standards as every other PandaRoads deliverable, with raw screenshots attached. And to keep the boundaries honest, we do not sign contracts, hold money, or produce legal opinions, as our what we don't do page spells out.

What Should You Do After the Check?

With a verified record in hand, the rest of the supplier process is standard: cross-check the bank account name against the registered name before any transfer, keep deposits at 30% or below for a first order, and pay through channels that offer protection. For pricing context on the products themselves, our 1688 price check tells you whether the quote you received matches what Chinese factories actually charge domestically. For the full menu of research and verification work, see all done-for-you tasks.

Sources and Official Links

Official system: gsxt.gov.cn (National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System)
Operator and scope: SAMR announcement on the system's functions, via Liaoning provincial government
Unified Social Credit Code standard GB 32100-2015: National Organization Code Data Service Center
Annual report window and rules: Interim Regulations on Enterprise Information Disclosure, via Shanghai SAMR; filing is free per Shenzhen SAMR
Operating Abnormal List grounds: Measures for the Administration of the Operating Abnormal List (2025 revision)
Real-name login since November 2021: Liaoning government services notice
Warning against paid "credit repair": Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation

FAQ

Is GSXT free to use? Yes. GSXT is a public registry and searching it does not cost money. The official channel is gsxt.gov.cn. Chinese regulators also stress that annual-report filing is free, and they warn businesses against paying middlemen for "credit repair" services that the official channel handles without a fee.

Where do I find a company's Unified Social Credit Code? On the business license: every Chinese company prints its 18-character Unified Social Credit Code there, per national standard GB 32100-2015. The code also appears on contracts, invoices, and most supplier profiles on Alibaba and similar platforms. If a supplier won't share a license photo, treat that as a finding.

Can I check a company without the Unified Social Credit Code? Yes. GSXT also accepts the exact Chinese name from the business license. The search box takes a company name, the 18-digit code, or the old registration number. An exact-name match is slower to confirm, which is why the code is the faster route.

What does "operating abnormal" (经营异常) mean on GSXT? It means the company has been placed on the Operating Abnormal List for one of four reasons: it did not file its annual report on time, it did not publish required disclosures, it published false or misleading information, or the regulator could not reach it at the registered address. Any of those is a red flag for a new supplier.

A supplier's GSXT record is clean. Is the supplier safe? A clean record means the company exists and keeps its filings current, nothing more. It does not prove that the person emailing you works for that company. Match the receiving bank account to the registered name, order a sample, and for large deposits book an on-site visit.

Do I need to speak Chinese to use GSXT? For a basic search, no: paste the 18-digit code and the record loads. Some functions now require a real-name login with a Chinese mobile number, and every field is in Chinese. Browser translation covers most pages, which is also where a local team saves you time: we run the full check and report in English.