TL;DR: US websites often load slowly or fail entirely in China due to infrastructure gaps, third-party services being blocked or degraded, and non-China-friendly code. Making a US website work in China involves addressing both infrastructure and frontend compatibility challenges.

Why US websites don’t work in China

If your website is hosted in the US and you’re hearing from users in China that it’s slow, broken, or inaccessible, you’re not alone. Sites built and hosted outside of China often run into performance issues when accessed from within mainland China.

There are two primary reasons for this:

Infrastructure-based incompatibilities: China is geographically distant from most US data centers, resulting in high round-trip times. China’s internet infrastructure operates through a small number of state-affiliated ISPs with limited international interconnectivity and strict network controls. These factors create additional layers of congestion, packet loss, and unpredictable latency, making performance optimization for China uniquely complex compared to other regions.

Code-based incompatibilities: Many third-party services (e.g., Google Fonts, YouTube embeds, Facebook plugins) load slowly, incompletely, or not at all in China.

Onshore vs. offshore hosting in China

When optimizing a site for China, companies often weigh up whether to host onshore (i.e. in China) vs. offshore (i.e. outside of China):

Onshore hosting: delivering your website from China can offer infrastructure benefits, however it also introduces operational complexities like managing a separate hosting environment and maintaining two versions of your website (China vs global). It also requires an ICP license, which in turn often requires a Chinese business entity or partner. Some hosting providers assist with this.

Offshore hosting: if you have an existing global website hosted outside of China, there are still available options to make it load fast and fully in China, like Chinafy.

Read more about hosting onshore in China

Will an ICP license make a US website work in China?

*Disclaimer: This guide is informational and does not constitute legal advice. Chinafy is not a legal or corporate advisory entity, and, given that every business is different, we suggest consulting with your internal legal counsel if you would like advice on any legal or compliance-related concerns, or alternatively we can connect you with one of our partners.

When it comes to making your website work in China, two factors are often confused:

Performance: How fast, fully, and reliably your website loads for users in China.

Compliance: Whether your website meets the necessary legal and regulatory requirements to operate in China, such as obtaining an ICP license.

If you’re hosting your website onshore in China, certain prerequisites are required for compliance, including:

An ICP filing or license - a certificate displayed on your website, mandatory to legally host your site in China.

A legal entity in China or partnership with one - you cannot obtain an ICP license without a registered business in China.

Compliance with content regulations - China has laws around content compliance, such as avoiding politically sensitive or illegal material.

PSB filing if applicable - for some websites, a Public Security Bureau (PSB) filing may be required to comply with cybersecurity and data security regulations.

Achieving compliance doesn’t guarantee strong web performance in China:

A website with an ICP license may still load slowly or incompletely without the right optimization.

Equally, a website hosted offshore can often perform just as well as an onshore-hosted website with the right optimization solution.

Can I use a CDN to make a US website work in China?

A CDN alone (even a China-specific one) will not fully solve the challenges of making a US or international website work well in China. Many assume that simply using a global CDN solves China access issues. In reality:

CDNs improve speed but not functionality. They help with asset caching closer to the end user but don’t address broken scripts or third-party conflicts.

They don’t rewrite or replace blocked elements.

They don’t account for frontend behavior that breaks due to incompatible services.

And if you want to use a China CDN, it requires an ICP license and other prerequisites (and still doesn’t address the underlying code-based incompatibilities your website may have).

In short: CDNs can help, but they don’t fix everything.

Chinafy optimization

Chinafy uniquely addresses the full stack of website performance issues for China:

Bolt-on: No need to rebuild or host in China as long as the website is not officially blocked in China. Works with any CMS or platform.

Handles third-party resources: Combines in-person and platform-level features to detect and treat third-party resources to improve compatibility with China’s internet.

CMS agnostic: Works with WordPress, Shopify, headless frameworks, static sites, and web apps.

Offshore-friendly: Works with both offshore and onshore sites to optimize for China.

Hybrid delivery: Combines CDN and multi-cloud optimization strategies for faster, more resilient delivery in China.

Instead of asking "Do I need to move my site to China?", Chinafy customers ask "How can I make my existing site work better in China?"

Checklist: What your US website needs to work in China

Here’s a simplified list to get you started:

Test your site from mainland China

Identify potentially incompatible third-party services your site heavily relies on

Assess your current CDN performance or consider CDNs with PoPs (points of presence) closer to China

Consider offshore vs. onshore hosting options

Use Chinafy to automate and streamline the process

Optimizing a US-based website for China doesn’t have to mean rebuilding your site, moving infrastructure onshore, or navigating complex regulatory hurdles alone. Performance challenges in China involve infrastructure (i.e. where your site’s content is delivered from) and code (i.e. whether your site has incompatible assets that slow down or break when loaded in China).

CDNs or onshore hosting can sometimes address part of infrastructure challenges but they fail to tackle the full picture. Chinafy helps to make websites load fast, fully and functionally without compromising your existing global setup.

Ready to see how your site performs in China? Get in touch to learn more.