If you’ve ever tried loading a global website from inside Mainland China, you’ll likely know the frustration. Images take forever. Videos buffer endlessly. Some scripts just never show up. China operates a unique and expansive internet ecosystem, underpinned by specialized infrastructure and governance models. And when the website (that you built primarily for non-China visitors) crosses the border, the incompatibility will be evident. 

Some good news, though: you don’t need to rebuild your entire website or relocate your servers to give China visitors a fast, reliable experience. Modern solutions are making it easier than ever, and when you combine the right tools, your website can perform as expected in Mainland China as it does in the rest of the world.

Let’s break down why websites struggle in China, what actually fixes the problem, and how Chinafy and Tencent EdgeOne work together to deliver high performance and security.

Why global websites are slow in China

There are two major factors that can slow down global websites in China:

Your site relies on incompatible infrastructure – your server and content delivery network (CDN) may deliver your site without issue to global visitors, but the location(s) of your server and/or CDN points of presence (PoPs) are likely adding additional loading time by simply being physically further away from the end user.

Your site uses third-party resources – most modern websites are loaded with third-party tracking scripts, JavaScript frameworks, resources from multiple domains, video players that don’t work in China, the list goes on. Many of these resources are hosted on domains that are either slow or blocked in Mainland China.

What ultimately happens, is that a site that might take just 2 seconds to load in New York can easily take 20+ seconds in Shanghai, if it even loads at all.

Three components of China web delivery

High-performance China web delivery can be achieved with three key components:

China-compatible front-end

Before you can deliver fast and functional content, you need to know if it can actually load in China. This means identifying slow or blocked resources, like YouTube APIs or Google Maps. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of resources that aren’t built to be compatible with China’s internet (meaning they may take a long time to load or fail to load at all) in China and the way they work differs and evolves over time so there is no one-off list or means to edit these resources. Changes will likely have to be made on an ongoing basis.

Chinafy specializes in resolving front-end and third-party resource challenges so that websites not only load fast, but also fully and consistently without a rebuild.

Edge acceleration

Content delivery networks (CDNs) help improve loading speeds by caching content closer to users. One of the reasons certain global CDNs struggle to perform for visitors in China is not having PoPs either inside or near to Mainland China. And even those that do, they may not leverage specialized cross-border routing to overcome the “traffic”.

Chinafy and Tencent EdgeOne route traffic along the fastest possible paths to bypass congested public internet routes, and EdgeOne brings the power of Tencent’s licensed edge network and acceleration to ensure content reaches users quickly and reliably across China.

Security

Speed is pretty irrelevant if your site gets taken down by an attack.

Chinafy and Tencent EdgeOne provide enterprise-grade security including:

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

DDoS protection

Bot mitigation and rate limiting

Geo-blocking capabilities.

These security features act as a shield, cleaning malicious traffic before it reaches your servers, keeping your infrastructure safe, fast and available.

Why use Tencent EdgeOne?

Tencent, while best known for WeChat, isn't just big in China – their infrastructure spans the whole globe:

3,200+ global edge nodes

Sub-40ms latency to most global population centers

Sub-10ms latency within Mainland China

400 Tbps of total bandwidth capacity

Smart routing that handles dynamic content

Static content is easy to cache, but dynamic content like login systems, APIs and personalized data, is typically handled in a different way.

EdgeOne routes dynamic requests by selecting the optimal linkage for origin-pull dynamic data , not the congested public internet. This means:

More stability

Faster Time to First Byte (TTFB)

Quicker overall page rendering

Cross-border acceleration with or without ICP

Obtaining an ICP license is often a business-level decision as it comes down to whether you need your site to use any onshore infrastructure in Mainland China:

If you have an ICP license:

Your site can be served directly from servers inside Mainland China.

If you don't have ICP:

EdgeOne can still serve traffic into China from the Hong Kong data centres via premium BGP channels which ensure connection speed and complacency.

How do Chinafy and EdgeOne work together?

Tencent Cloud EdgeOne and Chinafy address different but equally critical layers of China web performance, working hand-in-hand to deliver the best possible experience for users.

EdgeOne brings the power of Tencent’s licensed edge network, security, and acceleration to ensure content reaches users quickly and reliably across China.

Chinafy complements this by optimizing at the application layer, resolving front-end and third-party resource challenges so that websites not only load fast, but also fully and consistently.

Together, they offer a complete solution that combines the strength of Tencent’s infrastructure with Chinafy’s specialized optimization, enabling global businesses to perform seamlessly in China.

When used together, Chinafy and EdgeOne gives you:

~7.3x faster page loads on average in China

Fast, full, reliable website performance

Enterprise-grade security

Improved China SEO by extension of the site performing well

Scalability with infrastructure that grows with your business

It’s a commonly spread message that delivering fast, reliable websites means:

Rebuilding from scratch

Moving all infrastructure onshore

Spending high amounts on expensive licenses and regulatory requirements

Or giving up and accepting slow performance

With Chinafy and Tencent EdgeOne, you can deliver optimized content to visitors in Mainland China with speed, security and stability without a rebuild.

China has over 1 billion internet users. Is your website ready?

Get in touch with Chinafy for a complementary website evaluation.