When a Chinese supplier goes silent after you pay, use the first seven days to establish facts. Rule out a public holiday (China is closed 1–7 October 2026), check the company's status on the national registry, confirm who received your money, and stop further payments. If the registry shows the company applying for simplified deregistration, creditors can object during a 20-day notice period. If assets are at risk, a court must rule on an urgent freeze within 48 hours.
- Silence is not yet a breach. Check the calendar and your contract's delivery date before you treat the order as lost.
- The registry tells you more than the salesperson. The National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System shows whether the company is still operating, listed as unreachable, or applying to deregister.
- A deregistration notice can be challenged. A company using the simplified procedure must publish a notice for 20 days, and creditors can object online during that time.
- Stop paying, but say so in writing. A buyer who withholds a payment it owes first needs firm evidence and must notify the supplier promptly (Civil Code Arts. 527–528).
- Capture the evidence before it disappears. Chat records, emails and the supplier's online listings are electronic data that Chinese courts accept as evidence.
- By day seven, choose a route: a written settlement, a deadline and termination, a freeze of assets, or a police report where the facts point to fraud.
The first seven days at a glance
| When | What to do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Check the Chinese public holiday calendar and your contract's delivery date. Contact the supplier by every channel you have used: email, WeChat, WhatsApp, phone. | A holiday or a change of sales staff explains many silences. Silence before the delivery date is not yet a breach. |
| Day 1 | Compare the account name on your bank transfer with the supplier's registered Chinese name. If they differ, or the bank details were changed by email, call your bank. | If you paid a fraudster, the real supplier is usually not liable, and the bank is your fastest route. |
| Day 2 | Look up the company on the national registry (gsxt.gov.cn): status, abnormal-operations listing, recent changes, any deregistration notice. | Shows whether the company is operating, unreachable, or trying to close. |
| Day 2 | Search the courts' enforcement information site (zxgk.court.gov.cn) and China Judgments Online. | Unpaid judgments against the supplier mean other creditors are already queuing. |
| Days 2–3 | Export every chat and email in full, save payment records, and capture the supplier's website and platform listings. | This evidence can be deleted or taken down. You need it for any claim. |
| Day 3 | Stop further payments and tell the supplier in writing that you have done so and why. | Withholding a payment you owe first is lawful only with firm evidence and prompt notice. |
| Days 4–6 | Send a formal written demand, in Chinese, to the registered address and every known contact, with a firm reply date. | Creates a dated record and often produces a reply. |
| Day 7 | Decide the route: written settlement, deadline and termination, asset freeze, or police report. | Delay helps a supplier that is moving money or closing down. |
1. Is it really silence? Check the calendar first
Many "disappeared" suppliers are closed for a holiday or have lost the salesperson who handled your order. China's official holidays in the second half of 2026 are the Mid-Autumn Festival, 25–27 September, and National Day, 1–7 October. National Day is a seven-day break, and many factories stop work for longer around it. Spring Festival is the other long closure each year; in 2026 it ran from 15 to 23 February.
Then check your contract. If the delivery date has not arrived, silence alone is not a breach. It becomes one when the supplier misses the date, or when it clearly says, or shows by its conduct, that it will not perform. In that case you can hold it liable before the delivery date arrives (Civil Code Art. 578). A supplier that has emptied its premises or deregistered has shown by its conduct that it will not perform.
2. Check the registry: is the company still there?
Every Chinese company is listed on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (gsxt.gov.cn). Search by the registered Chinese name or the 18-character Unified Social Credit Code on your contract or invoice. An English trading name will not work. Four things matter:
- Status. A company shown as in existence (存续 / 在业) can still be sued in the ordinary way. A company shown as deregistered (注销) no longer exists, so any claim must be brought against other parties, such as its shareholders.
- Abnormal-operations list (经营异常名录). A company is added to this list if, among other things, it fails to file its annual report on time or cannot be reached at its registered address or place of business. A recent listing for being unreachable is a strong sign the supplier has moved or stopped trading.
- Recent changes. A new legal representative, a new registered address, or a change of shareholders in the weeks after your payment is a warning sign. So is a new company with a near-identical name at the same address.
- A simplified deregistration notice (简易注销公告). See the next section. It is the most urgent thing to check.
3. If the supplier is trying to deregister: object within 20 days
Chinese law lets a company with no outstanding debts close through a simplified deregistration procedure. The company, with a commitment from all of its shareholders that it has no debts, publishes its application on the national registry. Under the Regulations on the Registration of Market Entities (Art. 33) the notice period is 20 days. If no government department, creditor or other interested party objects within that period, the company may apply for deregistration within the following 20 days.
A supplier that is holding your money is not a company without debts. If you see its notice, file an objection through the objection function on the notice page of the registry, stating that you are a creditor and how much you are owed, and keep a screenshot. The registry does not accept objections once the notice period has ended, so check early and more than once.
If the company is deregistered anyway, the claim does not die with it. Under the Company Law (Art. 240), where a company was deregistered through the simplified procedure and the shareholders' commitment that it had no debts was untrue, the shareholders are jointly liable for the debts that existed before deregistration. That claim is harder and slower than stopping the deregistration in the first place.
4. Check the court records
Two free public databases show whether other creditors got there first:
- China Enforcement Information Disclosure (zxgk.court.gov.cn): whether the company is a judgment debtor in enforcement proceedings, is on the list of dishonest judgment debtors, or is subject to spending restrictions.
- China Judgments Online (wenshu.court.gov.cn): published judgments, including contract disputes with other buyers.
A clean record is good news. A string of unpaid judgments and enforcement cases closed because no assets were found means the money may already be gone, and it changes whether legal action is worth the cost.
5. Confirm who has your money
Compare the account name on your transfer with the supplier's registered Chinese name. A payment to the supplier's own company account is a claim against that company. A payment to a person or an unrelated company is harder to recover and may point to fraud. If the bank details were changed by an email you did not verify by phone, treat it as possible payment fraud: ask your bank at once whether a recall can be requested, and report it to the police in your country. How recall requests work depends on your bank and on whether the funds have already been credited.
6. Stop paying, and say so in writing
Do not send the balance, a "release fee" or a new deposit to restart the order. If your contract requires you to pay before the supplier ships, stopping payment is still lawful where you have firm evidence that the supplier's business has seriously deteriorated, that it is moving assets to avoid its debts, or that it has lost the ability to perform (Civil Code Art. 527). You must notify the supplier promptly that you are suspending payment (Art. 528). If the supplier then neither restores its ability to perform nor provides adequate security within a reasonable time, you may terminate the contract and claim damages. Stopping payment without firm evidence can itself be a breach, so write down the evidence you are relying on.
7. Capture the evidence before it disappears
Electronic data, including chat records, emails and online content, is one of the forms of evidence recognised by the Civil Procedure Law (Art. 66). What matters is being able to show that it is complete and has not been altered. In the first days:
- Export complete WeChat and WhatsApp conversations, not selected screenshots, and keep the phone that holds them.
- Save emails in their original format, with full headers, rather than forwarding them.
- Save the contract or pro forma invoice, purchase orders, specifications and bank transfer records showing the receiving account.
- Capture the supplier's website and its listings on sourcing platforms, which are often taken down quickly. Where the evidence is important, a Chinese notary can make a notarised record of online content or of the chats on your phone.
What you need for a lawsuit, including documents signed abroad, is covered in how to sue a Chinese supplier from overseas.
8. Day seven: choose the route
| What you found | Next step |
|---|---|
| The supplier replies and offers to ship or refund | Get a written schedule with dates and amounts, sealed with the company chop. A written promise to pay also interrupts the limitation period. |
| The company is operating but will not perform | Send a final deadline, then terminate and claim the payment back. See paid a Chinese supplier but no goods arrived. |
| Signs of asset flight: address or ownership changes, a deregistration notice, money moving | Apply to freeze the supplier's assets before it is warned. The court must rule on an urgent application within 48 hours; you must provide security and sue or start arbitration within 30 days (Civil Procedure Law Art. 104). See freezing a Chinese company's assets. |
| The company was never real, or took the money and fled | Report to the police where the supplier is based, and pursue any civil claim in parallel. |
On the last row: under the PRC Criminal Law (Art. 224), receiving goods, payment or an advance payment under a contract and then absconding, with intent to take the money, is one of the listed forms of contract fraud. Whether to open a criminal case is for the police to decide, and they often treat a supplier that is still trading as a civil dispute. A report is worth making where the evidence shows the company was never going to deliver.
When it is not worth pursuing
Be realistic about two situations. If the amount is small, the cost of lawyers, translation and authenticating documents signed abroad can exceed what you would recover. See what it costs to sue a Chinese company. If the company has already been deregistered and its shareholders have no assets you can reach, a claim may be possible in law but empty in practice. In both cases the first week is still useful: it tells you quickly whether to spend more money or to stop.
When to bring in a China lawyer
Bring in a China lawyer if the registry shows a deregistration notice, the company's address or ownership has changed since you paid, or the amount justifies a freeze. These situations depend on speed and on applications in Chinese. Our China supplier disputes page explains how we act for foreign buyers, and how to recover money from a Chinese supplier compares the routes.
Frequently asked questions
Not necessarily. Many suppliers go quiet during a holiday or after a change of sales staff. Check the Chinese holiday calendar, confirm that the account you paid belongs to the supplier's registered company, and look up the company on gsxt.gov.cn. A registered, operating company that has taken a deposit is usually a commercial debtor rather than a fraudster.
Search the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (gsxt.gov.cn) using the company's registered Chinese name or its 18-character Unified Social Credit Code. The record shows its status, whether it is on the abnormal-operations list, recent changes to its registration, and any simplified deregistration notice.
It may try. A company using the simplified deregistration procedure must publish a notice on the national registry for 20 days, and a creditor can object during that period. If the company is deregistered on a false statement that it had no debts, its shareholders become jointly liable for those debts under Article 240 of the Company Law.
Not while the supplier is silent. Where you have firm evidence that its business has seriously deteriorated or that it is moving assets, PRC law allows you to suspend a payment due first, provided you notify the supplier promptly. Record the evidence you rely on, because suspending without it can itself be a breach.
For an urgent application made before a lawsuit, the court must rule within 48 hours, and a freeze that is granted must be carried out immediately. You must provide security, and you must sue or start arbitration within 30 days or the freeze is lifted. You also need to identify the assets, such as the bank and account.
Sources
- General Office of the State Council — 2026 public holiday arrangements (Chinese).
- Regulations on the Registration of Market Entities (State Council Order No. 746, in force 1 March 2022), Art. 33 — the 20-day notice period for simplified deregistration (Chinese).
- Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court — deregistration, revocation and cancellation of companies, including Company Law Art. 240 (Chinese).
- Measures for the Administration of the List of Enterprises with Abnormal Operations (2025 revision, in force 1 May 2025), Art. 4 (Chinese).
- National Database of Laws and Regulations — PRC Civil Code Arts. 527, 528 and 578; Civil Procedure Law Arts. 66 and 104; Criminal Law Art. 224 (Chinese).
- National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System · China Enforcement Information Disclosure · China Judgments Online.
- Internal: paid but no goods arrived · supplier won't refund · freezing assets · China supplier disputes
This article is general information for foreign companies, not legal advice on any specific matter. Rules and practice change; please take advice on your facts.