Websites that actually load, rank, and sell in China.
We design, build and host websites and WeChat mini-programs for the Chinese market. Sub-second load times. ICP-compliant. Baidu-ready. Visible in the AI engines Chinese consumers now use to discover brands.
20+ years in China. Offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Paris. Teams that have built for global brands and Chinese challengers alike.
Most global websites break inside China.
They load slowly, sometimes not at all. Google services stay blocked. Baidu does not index them. And the AI engines skip right over them.
We build sites and WeChat mini-programs that live inside the Chinese web. The tech fits the market, the hosting sits in the right place, the SEO is built for Baidu, and the content gets picked up by the AI engines Chinese consumers now lean on. So you can be found. And so you can sell.
GEO: getting cited by AI, not just ranked by Baidu
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. Basically SEO for the AI era. Chinese consumers are skipping the search bar and asking models instead.
Doubao, Kimi, DeepSeek, Qwen and a growing list of others answer by pulling from websites they have indexed and deemed credible. If you do not have a China-hosted site, they have nothing to cite about your brand. Which means you are not in the conversation.
What we actually do for GEO
- Structured data (schema.org, JSON-LD) so models can parse your pages cleanly
- Dense, factual content that AI engines prefer to quote, marketing fluff gets skipped
- Chinese-language pages indexed by Baidu and Sogou
- Brand entity setup in Baidu Baike and similar reference sources
- Monitoring of which engines mention your brand, and how they frame it
A Chinese-hosted, Chinese-language website is the foundation asset that feeds Baidu and every AI engine now shaping how Chinese consumers find products.
Two surfaces to own. The account and the mini-program.
Your brand newsroom inside WeChat
Service or subscription account that pushes articles to followers, handles customer service, and hosts basic pages. Keeps the relationship warm between purchases.
Push articles, customer service, basic pagesA full app inside WeChat, two taps from any user
Catalog, checkout, WeChat Pay, member cards and tier systems all live here. This is where eCommerce, loyalty and membership conversion actually happen.
eCommerce + loyalty + membershipMost brands on our roster run both. The account keeps the relationship warm. The mini-program is where the conversion happens. Together they cover discovery through to purchase.
WordPress or Astro. We pick based on how your team works.
Not a religion war. The right call depends on how often you publish, who pushes updates, and whether the site needs to do transactions.
WordPress
Content-driven, locally editedWhen your local team needs to run the site themselves. Campaigns, blog posts, product launches, frequent updates. Familiar editor, proven stack, your marketing person in Shanghai can publish on a Tuesday without calling a developer.
- Google Fonts swapped for Chinese CDN equivalents
- Blocked plugins replaced with local alternatives
- Local CDN wired up, ICP filed, Baidu SEO configured
- Best for teams that need content autonomy
Astro
Brand site, blistering fastWhen the site is a brand and product window with only occasional updates. Astro generates pure static HTML, which means it loads under one second even behind the Firewall, costs almost nothing to host, and is much harder to hack.
- Sub-second load times in mainland China
- No database, no PHP, minimal server footprint
- Nothing dynamic to exploit, no plugins to patch
- Best for brand-led marketing sites without transactions
Hosting is the single most important call you'll make.
And there is really only one answer: host inside China. Everything else is a compromise that hurts you. Slow load times, weak Baidu rankings, broken UX.
Mainland China
ICP required- Load time in China
- < 1 second
- Baidu SEO impact
- Strong positive
The only real option
Hong Kong
No ICP- Load time in China
- 2 to 4 seconds
- Baidu SEO impact
- Minimal
Slow, penalized by Baidu
US or EU
No ICP- Load time in China
- 8 to 15+ seconds
- Baidu SEO impact
- None
Effectively broken
Bei'an in 2 to 4 weeks. Commercial license in 2 to 3 months.
Mainland hosting means an ICP license and a server with Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud or Huawei Cloud. We take care of the full ICP filing. Bei'an (informational) for content sites. Commercial license for eCommerce and transactional platforms.
We also handle server config, CDN, monitoring from inside China (most tools check from outside the Firewall and miss the real problems), and daily backups. No Chinese entity yet? There are workarounds. We will walk you through them.
ChinaWebFoundry: a dedicated website agency for China.
When the website itself is the main deliverable, we run a dedicated sister agency built specifically for the Chinese market. Any tech stack: WordPress, Astro, static, custom.
- Strategy, audit and migration behind the Firewall
- ICP-licensed hosting on Alibaba, Tencent or Huawei Cloud
- UX and UI redesign for Chinese users
- Plugin and integration swaps for anything blocked
- Baidu SEO, Chinese content, ongoing maintenance
Same team. Same 20+ years in China. A focused front door when your priority is a website that actually works inside the mainland.
Visit ChinaWebFoundryFive things that decide whether the site actually works
Design that fits Chinese users
Denser pages, flatter navigation, QR codes everywhere, mobile-first because mobile is 95% of the traffic. We build for that reality, not the Western web habits that look polished in Stockholm and broken in Shanghai.
Code that respects the Firewall
No Google Fonts, no blocked CDNs, no Maps API that times out, no YouTube embeds. Everything swapped for a local equivalent. Not glamorous, but it is the difference between a site that loads and one that does not.
Hosting that stays up
99%+ uptime, with two-hour response coverage around the clock. We patch the stack, run nightly backups, and keep the site PIPL compliant from day one. Monitoring runs from inside the Firewall, where it actually catches what breaks.
Mini-programs that convert
Built on Tencent's stack (WXML, WXSS, WeChat JS). Native payments, CRM integration, tier systems, push messaging. Ten years of mini-program work for brands that use WeChat as a sales channel, not a brochure.
Copy in the language you need
Chinese content written directly by our in-house team, not translated from English. English and French versions produced when HQ review, investor decks or global consistency require them.
Brands that need a site that works in China, not one that looks fine elsewhere.
- International brands launching in China for the first time
- Brands whose current site is too slow to matter in the mainland
- Teams filing ICP for the first time and losing weeks to the paperwork
- eCommerce businesses that need fast, compliant hosting
- Chinese brands going overseas who need a proper English site
Case studies available on request.
Frequently asked questions about websites in China
What is GEO and why does it matter?
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is SEO for AI-powered search. Chinese users increasingly ask AI assistants (Doubao, Kimi, DeepSeek, Qwen) instead of typing queries. These models need credible, indexed sites to cite. No China-hosted site means no visibility.
WordPress or Astro, which one?
WordPress if your team updates content often and wants autonomy. Astro if the site mostly sits still between launches and you want speed, security and low hosting costs.
How much does a China website cost?
Budgets depend on scope, scale and integrations. Small brand sites on Astro start lower. WordPress builds with eCommerce or WeChat integration sit higher. We scope every project separately.
How long does the whole thing take?
4 to 10 weeks for the build, plus ICP filing on top. Bei'an runs 2 to 4 weeks. Commercial license runs 2 to 3 months, sometimes more. We run design and dev in parallel with the ICP paperwork so nothing sits idle waiting.
Who owns the code and the ICP?
You do. Code is yours. ICP is registered to your Chinese entity (or the partner entity we set up with you). No lock-in.
Can you migrate my existing site?
Yes. We audit what you have, flag what breaks in China, and either migrate it clean or rebuild the parts that will not work. In most cases it is faster and cheaper than starting from scratch.
Is hosting in China really mandatory?
For speed, Baidu rankings, AI citations and reliability, yes. Hong Kong works as a bridge. Serving from Europe or the US means a broken experience for Chinese users.
What is an ICP license?
A mandatory filing from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Two types. Bei'an covers informational sites. Commercial license covers eCommerce and transactional platforms. Required for any mainland hosting.
Can a WeChat mini-program replace a website?
For eCommerce and loyalty, often yes. For discovery, SEO and brand credibility, a website is still essential. Most clients run both.
How does PIPL affect my site?
PIPL is China's GDPR equivalent. Your site has to disclose data collection, get explicit user consent, and store personal data securely. We build PIPL compliance in from the start.
What is the free site check?
We test your current site from inside China. Load times, blocked resources, Baidu visibility, AI engine citations. You get a written summary back. No commitment.
Tell us what you have, what you need, and where you want to be.
We will come back with a recommendation that fits your timeline, your audience and your budget. No generic decks, no 40-slide intro. Just a plan.