Unified Social Credit Code
统一社会信用代码
In short
The Unified Social Credit Code is the 18-character identifier printed on every Chinese business licence since 2015. It replaces the old business registration number, tax number and organisation code. The final character is a checksum, so a code can be tested for validity offline — a fabricated number usually fails.
What it proves
- The legal entity exists in the national registry
- Its registration authority and administrative region
- Its entity type — limited company, sole proprietorship, partnership
- Whether the number is structurally valid, via the checksum
What it does not prove
- That the company actually manufactures anything
- That it owns the premises it operates from
- That it is financially healthy or free of litigation
- That the person who sent it to you is authorised to act for it
The code is built from five parts: a registration authority digit, an entity-type digit, a six-digit administrative division code, a nine-character organisation identifier, and a check character. Because the structure is fixed, you can read a great deal from the string alone.
Two digits are worth knowing before the rest. The third to eighth characters are the administrative division code, which tells you the province, city and district of registration. If a supplier says they are a factory in Foshan and the code resolves to a district in Hebei, that is not proof of fraud — companies register branches everywhere — but it is a question worth asking.
The second digit indicates the entity type. A code starting 91 is an ordinary
limited company, 92 a sole proprietorship, 93 a partnership. Many genuinely
small factories are 92. Many trading companies dressed up as factories are 91
with a business scope that says retail.
The check character is the strongest part. China’s GB 32100-2015 standard defines a weighted modulus-31 checksum. Roughly speaking, if a code does not pass that checksum, it was not issued by the registry — it was typed, invented, or transcribed with an error.
What the code cannot do is tell you what the company does. For that you need the business scope field, and for whether it actually produces anything you need either a discharge permit or a person standing in the building.
Last checked 2026-10
A document tells you what is claimed.
A visit tells you what is there.