Registered Capital in China

Registered capital is the capital amount recorded for a company by its registration authority. For a Chinese limited liability company, it is generally the total amount subscribed by all shareholders. “Subscribed” is the key word: the field records a contribution commitment, not the company's current cash balance.

What the field records

China's current Company Law states that the registered capital of a limited liability company is the amount subscribed by all shareholders and registered with the authority. The articles of association name each shareholder's amount, contribution method, and contribution date. Read Articles 46-49 in the official policy database.

A usable field record therefore has at least four parts:

• amount: preserve the source value and any unit such as 万元, meaning ten thousand;
• currency: do not silently convert a reported RMB or foreign-currency amount;
• company type: limited and joint-stock companies do not use identical capital language in every rule; and
• record date: a later increase or reduction can make an older report accurate for its date but stale today.

The unit belongs to the value. For example, a source field showing 500 with the unit 万元 represents 5,000,000 units of the stated currency, not 500. Some translated reports expand the amount into base units while others preserve the Chinese ten-thousand unit. Save the original field, the normalized amount, and the conversion method so another reviewer can reproduce it. Never attach “RMB” merely because the source is Chinese; use the currency actually recorded.

Subscribed is not paid in

A shareholder may subscribe an amount now and contribute it according to the articles and applicable deadline. The registered-capital headline does not reveal how much has already been contributed, what form the contribution took, or whether contributed assets remain liquid.

Eligible contributions can include money and certain transferable non-cash property that can be valued, such as intellectual property, land-use rights, equity, or claims. A registered amount can therefore never be translated directly into “cash in the bank.” The related term Paid-in Capital in China covers contribution evidence and reporting dates.

The current contribution timeline

For a limited company formed under the current framework, shareholders generally must pay their subscribed amounts within five years from establishment, as specified in the articles. Laws, administrative regulations, or State Council decisions can set different paid-in, minimum-capital, or deadline rules for particular activities.

Companies registered on or before 30 June 2024 use a transition rule rather than a fictional new establishment date. If their remaining subscription period would exceed five years from 1 July 2027, they generally must adjust that remaining period to within five years by 30 June 2027. The State Council's regulation states the Chinese rule, while its English portal provides a concise summary. Read the regulation and the official English summary.

Do not apply the transition sentence without the company's establishment date, existing deadline, company type, and any applicable exception.

How a capital change appears

An increase, reduction, or revised contribution schedule is a dated company event. Record the old amount, new amount, currency, registration or effective date, shareholder amounts, and updated deadlines separately. Under the implementation rules, companies must disclose prescribed subscribed and paid-in changes through the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System within the required period. See the current SAMR measures.

A capital increase does not prove that the new amount was immediately paid. A reduction does not by itself explain the company's operating condition. Both require the event documents and contribution disclosures appropriate to the question.

What registered capital does not tell you

The field does not state revenue, profit, net assets, available cash, debt, borrowing capacity, factory output, order history, product quality, or payment reliability. It also does not create a universal “safe order size.” Those are different evidence categories.

For buyer interpretation and three contrasting supplier situations, read What Registered Capital Tells Buyers. To locate the field in its document context, use Read a Chinese Business License. Keep the glossary definition in the factual record; put commercial conclusions in a separately reasoned decision note.