Half the confusion in a first project is vocabulary. These are the terms worth knowing before the first serious conversation.
Structures and entities
- WFOE — a wholly foreign-owned enterprise: a Chinese company you own entirely. Can invoice and hire; carries ongoing obligations.
- Rep office — a legal presence that cannot invoice. For liaison and market work only.
- Business licence (营业执照) — the public document stating a company's permitted scope of activity. Your main verification tool.
- ICP — the filing required to host a website inside mainland China. Requires a Chinese legal entity.
Manufacturing and sourcing
- OEM — the factory makes your design. ODM — the factory's design, your brand on it. The difference decides who owns what.
- MOQ — minimum order quantity. Partly physics, partly a judgement about you.
- Golden sample — the signed physical reference production is measured against.
- Tooling — the moulds and fixtures made for your product. Who owns them determines how freely you can move.
- FOB / EXW / DDP — Incoterms: where responsibility and cost pass from seller to buyer. They decide far more than the price line suggests.
Digital and market
- Official account — a company presence on WeChat; identity and contact path more than a publishing channel.
- Cross-border e-commerce — selling to Chinese consumers from abroad under a personal-import regime, without a local entity.
- Tier 1 / Tier 2 cities — an informal ranking by size and wealth. Useful shorthand, misleading if taken as a strategy.
- Bonded warehouse — storage inside China where goods sit before customs clearance. Shortens delivery in cross-border selling.