ENTITY HISTORY / 01
A current registration snapshot and a historical change do different jobs.
This note is for a buyer who has seen a changed company field or an older document from a Chinese supplier. It does not investigate a specific company, change record or transaction.
Do not use an old document as a substitute for the current record
China’s market-entity registration regulation covers establishment, change and cancellation registration. It lists matters including the name, business scope, residence or principal place of business, registered capital and legal representative; a relevant change is subject to change registration.
Keep the current official result separate from any historical change display and from the date on a quotation, contract, invoice or supplier explanation. A date answers “when was this shown or issued?” It does not by itself answer why the change occurred or whether a commercial relationship is acceptable.
Start with the official China company-registration search and current identity snapshot →
DATED RECORD / 02
Keep the record lines separate before asking them to connect.
| Evidence line | Record the dated fact | Question it can open | It does not establish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current official result | Exact Chinese legal name, Unified Social Credit Code, displayed fields, source URL and query date | Which entity is currently shown in the official record? | Supplier reliability, factory capability or payment safety |
| Displayed company change | Field shown, before-and-after wording, displayed change date and capture date | What field changed, and when does the record say it changed? | The reason for the change, fraud or a commercial relationship |
| Deal document | Seller name, issue date, version and document role | Was this document current at the relevant signing, invoicing or payment step? | Signatory authority, account ownership or enforceability |
| Supplier explanation | Exact explanation, contact channel, date and supporting documents | Does the explanation identify the relationship and period that need checking? | Independent confirmation that the explanation is true |
A change record is a dated evidence question, not proof of fraud. It does not establish the current supplier identity, signatory authority, factory capability, payment safety, product compliance, contract enforceability or order performance.
Make the follow-up specific to the changed field
For a name change, keep the old and current legal names with the Unified Social Credit Code and ask which version was used for the relevant document. For an address change, ask whether it affects the claimed production-site relationship; the registered address and factory site remain separate evidence questions. For a legal-representative field, do not treat the field alone as proof of authority to sign. For registered-capital wording, do not turn a figure or a change into a capacity or payment conclusion.
Ask through an independently verified contact channel, preserve the answer and hold a material decision open until the relationship, timing and document role are clear enough for your order. Use the legal-name chain to compare sales labels, legal entities, deal documents and beneficiaries →
Read why a registered address and a claimed factory site need separate dated evidence →
Method and limitations
Currawong Web reviewed the official sources below on 2 August 2026. The regulation supports the narrow claims that change registration exists and that several entity fields are registration matters. An explanatory article published by SAMR’s registration bureau describes registration archives as lifecycle records that can include changes such as capital, shareholder and scope changes. Neither source determines why a particular company changed, who may sign for it or how an order will perform.
We did not inspect any reader’s supplier, legal entity, factory, account, product or transaction. This is general research guidance, not legal advice, a fraud finding, a factory audit, product-compliance advice or a guarantee of supplier performance. Live records and deal documents can change.
PRIMARY SOURCES / 03
Official sources used for this note
Links and page content were checked on 2 August 2026. Re-open the live official record for the entity and date you are assessing.
- National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity SystemOfficial market-entity search by Chinese name, Unified Social Credit Code or registration number.
- SAMR — Regulation on market-entity registrationOfficial regulation covering establishment, change and cancellation registration, general registration matters and change registration.
- SAMR Registration Bureau — Company registration archivesAgency-published explanation of lifecycle registration archives and the types of historical changes they can preserve.