Starting a business in China: foreigner's guide (2026)

China's first fundamental law dedicated to the private sector entered into force, guaranteeing fair market access/competition, financing support and rights protection for the private firms that make up over 92% of all registered businesses. It signals state commitment to a more predictable environment for private (including newly founded) enterprises.

The NDRC/MOFCOM released the updated unified negative list governing which sectors are restricted for both domestic and foreign entrants, further trimming restricted items while adding controls in sensitive areas (drones, e-cigarettes, pharma, internet services). Activities off the list are open to free market entry.

The Special Administrative Measures (Negative List) for Foreign Investment Access, 2024 Edition came into force, cutting restricted items from 31 to 29 and abolishing all remaining restrictions on foreign investment in manufacturing. Registration authorities will not process foreign-invested company set-ups in listed prohibited fields.

The comprehensively revised Company Law (adopted 29 Dec 2023) took effect alongside State Council implementation regulations, requiring LLC shareholders to fully pay subscribed registered capital within five years of formation and mandating public disclosure of capital changes. It reshapes how new companies are capitalized and governed.

The unified Foreign Investment Law took effect, repealing the separate WFOE, equity JV and cooperative JV laws and subjecting foreign-invested enterprises to the same Company Law as domestic firms under a pre-establishment national treatment plus negative-list regime. It standardized and simplified how foreigners establish businesses in China.

The NPC adopted the landmark Foreign Investment Law, establishing the framework that replaced China's three-decades-old fragmented foreign-investment statutes. It promised equal treatment and reduced approval barriers for foreign-funded enterprises.

The Doing Business 2019 report ranked China 46th (up from 78th) after a record seven reforms; the time to start a business fell to 9 days and Beijing became one of only two cities where start-up was free. It marked the payoff of China's business-registration streamlining drive.

Expanding the 2015 "three-in-one" reform, the State Council merged business, tax, organization-code, statistics and social-insurance registrations into a single license bearing an 18-digit Unified Social Credit Code. This collapsed multiple agency filings into one step, sharply cutting the time and paperwork to register a company.

Amendments to the Company Law abolished minimum registered-capital thresholds (e.g., RMB 30,000 for LLCs) and replaced the paid-in system with a subscription system, letting founders set their own capital and contribution schedule. This removed a major upfront barrier to forming a company.

Adopted by the NPC Standing Committee on 29 Dec 1993, China's first modern Company Law came into force, for the first time providing a legal framework for organizing and incorporating limited liability and joint-stock companies. It laid the foundation for company formation in the emerging market economy.