| Introduced | November 28, 1990[1] |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
| Status | Active |
| Registry | China Internet Network Information Center |
| Sponsor | Chinese Academy of Sciences |
| Intended use | Entities connected with People's Republic of China |
| Actual use | Very popular in China (5th largest ccTLD) |
| Structure | Names may be registered directly at the second level or at the third level within generic second-level categories or Chinese province codes |
| Documents | China Internet Domain Name Regulations |
| Dispute policies | CNNIC Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy |
| Website | CNNIC (domestic); Neulevel (foreign) |
.cn is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for mainland China.
The domain name administration in People's Republic of China is done through a branch of the Ministry of Information Industry. This ministry oversees everything from telecommunications to broadcasting similar to the Federal Communications Commission in the United States. The registry is maintained by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). The actual registrations are done through commercial registrars similar to other parts of the world. Neulevel has entered into a partnership with CNNIC to market .cn outside mainland China.
With little over 3.3 million registrations it is the 5th most popular ccTLD, after .de, .uk, .nl and .eu.[2][3]
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Any individual may register for second-level domain names. However, the registry has created a set of predefined second-level domains for certain types of organizations and geographic locations. Registrations for such third-level domains were available before second-level domains became available in 2004, and registrants of third-level domains were given priority for names at the second level.
The two-letter abbreviations are the same as those found in GB/T 2260-2002.[4]
Internationalized domain names with Chinese characters may be registered at the second level under the .cn top-level domain.
On June 25, 2010, ICANN approved the use of the internationalized country code top-level domains .中国 (china in simplified Chinese characters, DNS name xn--fiqs8s) and .中國 (china in traditional Chinese characters, DNS name xn--fiqz9s) by CNNIC.[5] These two TLDs were added to the DNS in July 2010.
CNNIC proposes Chinese domain names in .公司 (".com" in Chinese) and .网络 (".net" in Chinese). However, these are not recognized by ICANN and are only available via domestic domain name registrar.
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