Kassey Lee investigates which domains the top companies in China are using.

I believe domain investment based on real demand from end users is a solid investment. For this reason, I spend almost every day researching companies in China.

Fortune publishes a Fortune China 500 list annually in Chinese (an English version is apparently not available). Because of limited resources, I have chosen to focus on the top 100 only. These companies are worth studying because they are leaders of corporate China and, therefore, their domain preference will also influence others in the business world. Knowing what domains are sought after will help us sell domains to China.

Based on the 2019 list, I used Baidu to find the corporate websites of the top 100 companies, and then visited each site to determine their brand name and corporate domain. Below is the list of Fortune China 100 and their domains.

Rank	English	Chinese	DomainName
1	Sinopec	中国石化	Sinopec.com
2	PetroChina	中国石油	Petrochina.com.cn
3	China State Construction	中国建筑	CSCEC.com
4	Ping An	中国平安	Pingan.com
5	SAIC Motor	上汽集团	SAICMotor.com
6	ICBC	工商银行	ICBC.com.cn
7	China Railway	中国中铁	CRECG.com
8	China Mobile	中国移动	ChinaMobile.com
9	China Railway Construction	中国铁建	CRCC.cn
10	China Construction Bank	中国建行	CCB.com
11	China Life	中国人寿	e-ChinaLife.com
12	Agricultural Bank of China	中国农行	abchina.com
13	Bank of China	中国银行	BankofChina.com
14	People's Insurance Company of China	中国人保	PICC.com
15	China Communications Construction	中国交建	ccccLtd.cn
16	Evergrande	恒大集团	EverGrande.com
17	JD.com, Inc	京东	JD.com
18	CITIC	中信_x000D_ 中国中信	CITIC.com
19	Country Garden	碧桂园	BGY.com.cn
20	China Telecom	中国电信	ChinaTelecom-h.com
21	Legend Holdings	联想	LegendHoldings.com.cn
22	China Pacific Insurance Company	太平洋保险	CPIC.com.cn
23	Greenland Group	绿地	Greenlandsc.com
24	Alibaba	阿里巴巴	Alibaba.com
25	Sinopharm	国药	SinoPharm.com
26	HNA Group	海航	HNAgroup.com
27	Tencent	腾讯	Tencent.com
28	BaoSteel	宝山钢铁	BaoSteel.com
29	Wuchan Zhongda Group	物产中大	zjmi.com
30	Vanke	万科	Vanke.com
31	Power China	中国电建	PowerChina.cn
32	China Unicom	中国联通	ChinaUnicom.com
33	MCC Group	中冶	MCC.com.cn
34	C&D	建发	ChinaCnD.com
35	China Shenhua Energy	中国神华	ShenhuaChina.com
36	Midea	美的	Midea.com
37	Postal Savings Bank of China	中国邮政储蓄银行	PSBC.com
38	China Merchants Bank	招商银行	CMBchina.com
39	Suning	苏宁	Suning.com
40	Xiangyu	象屿	Xiangyu-Group.com
41	CNOOC	中海油	CNOOC.com.cn
42	China Energy Engineering Corporation	中国能建	ceec.net.cn
43	CRRC	中国中车	CRRC.cc
44	China National Building Material	中国建材	CNBMltd.com
45	Jiang Xi Copper Corporation	江铜	JXCC.com
46	Bank of Communications	交通银行	BankComm.com
47	ITG Group	国贸	ITG.com.cn
48	Gree	格力	Gree.com
49	Poly	保利	Polycn.com
50	Haier	海尔	Haier.com
51	Taiping	太平	cnTaiping.com
52	Chalco	中国铝业	Chalco.com.cn
53	Xiao Mi	小米	Mi.com
54	SPD Bank	浦发	SPDb.com.cn
55	Shanghai Construction Group	上海建工	SCG.com.cn
56	Huaneng Power International	华能	HPI.com.cn
57	China Grand Auto	广汇	ChinaGrandAuto.com
58	Yanzhou Coal Mining	兖州煤业	YanzhouCoal.com.cn
59	China Resources Pharmaceutical Group	华润	crPharm.com
60	Weichai	潍柴	Weichai.com
61	Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding	上海医药	SPHchina.com
62	Industrial Bank	兴业银行	CIB.com.cn
63	China Minsheng Bank	民生银行	CMBC.com.cn
64	New China Life Insurance	新华保险	NewChinaLife.com
65	BAIC Motor	北京汽车	BaicMotor.com
66	WH Group	万洲国际	WH-Group.com
67	China Southern Airlines	南航	CSair.com
68	Air China	国航	AirChina.com
69	China Aviation Oil	中国航油	CAOSCO.com
70	BYD	比亚迪	BYD.com
71	Anhui Conch Group	海螺	ChinaConch.com
72	Sunac	融创	Sunac.com.cn
73	China Resources	华润	CRland.com.hk
74	HBIS Group	河钢	Hbisco.com
75	Cosco Shipping	中远海运	CoscoShipping.com
76	China Re Group	中再	ChinaRe.com.cn
77	Longfor	龙湖	Longfor.com
78	China Eastern Airlines	东航	CEair.com
79	TCL	TCL	TCL.com
80	China Everbright Bank	光大银行	CEBbank.com
81	Fosun	复星	Fosun.com
82	Zhongsheng	中升	zs-group.com.cn
83	Huarong	华融	chamc.com.cn
84	Cinda	信达	Cindamc.com
85	Geely	吉利	Geely.com
86	China Comservice	中国通信服务	Chinaccs.com.cn
87	Zijin Mining	紫金	ZijinMining.com
88	Kunlun	昆仑	Kunlun.com.hk
89	Ansteel	鞍钢	AnsteelGroup.com
90	DFAC	东风	DFAC.com
91	China Coal	中煤	ChinaCoal.com
92	Baidu	百度	Baidu.com
93	Shanghai Electric	上海电气	Shanghai-Electric.com
94	GWM	长城汽车	GWM-global.com
95	Boe Technology	京东方	Boe.com
96	Mysteel Group	上海钢联	MySteel.cn
97	China International Marine Containers	中集	CIMC.com
98	Datang	大唐国际	DTpower.com
99	China Agri	中粮	ChinaAgri.com
100	Rongsheng	荣盛	CNRSPC.com

Let’s start by looking at the extensions used.

Extension	2019
com	72%
cn	25%
Others	3%

.com is No. 1. China is somewhat unique in that .com is also used within the country for the domestic market. In other words, Chinese consumers accept both .com and .cn.

.cn active?	2019
Yes	37%
No	63%

The preference for .com is reflected in how the companies treat their matching .cn domain. A whopping 63% of them do not even have an active .cn site. For example, BankofChina .cn does not resolve and SAICMotor .cn is for sale.

Language	2019
English	44%
Acronym	31%
Pinyin	6%
Numeric	0%
Mixed	19%

Surprisingly, English-based names are very popular. To tap into this opportunity, list your English-based domains at a marketplace that has retail partners in China. (I’m using the term “English” loosely. For example, Sinopec.com is considered English-based.)

Acronym	2019
2L	1%
3L	9%
4L	13%
5L	4%
6L	2%
7L	2%

While acronym domains up to 7 letters are found, maybe it’s prudent to invest up to 4L. Look at the Chinese column of the list and you’ll find most brand names with two or four characters. That means 2L and 4L in terms of acronyms.

Length	2019
Medium	7

Short is best. Chinese companies like short domains. The medium length of domains (excluding extension) is 7 characters only.

My biggest discovery in this exercise is the massive opportunity in selling domains to China as upgrades. 76 out of the 100 companies can benefit by upgrading to a better domain. Some examples are CSCEC .com (to CSC.com), SAICMotor .com (to SAIC.com), CRCC .cn (to CRC.com), and LegendHoldings .com.cn (to Legend.com). Granted, many of these domains are taken and used by other companies.

In short, you’ll be rewarded handsomely if you understand what domains are popular in China and then invest accordingly.