There is much debate about the difference between .com.cn and .cn Chinese domain names.

A few years ago, .com.cn was restricted to companies and .cn to personal sites such as blogs. This is evident through big corporates such as MacDonalds and Coca Cola grabbing these domains. This is not to say that they didn’t also grab the .cn too, but the reverse is not always true. ie a blogger buying a .cn would probably not buy the .com.cn version as well.

However, in recent years this trend is reversing and .cn is becoming more and more popular. Doing an availability search now in places such as Domain Names in China will reveal that in most cases there is a higher chance of the .com.cn being available over the .cn

There has also been a slight relaxing of the registration rules in that many registrars will in fact “sponsor” the person registering the domain name. This is true in both cases.

Many feel that .com.cn is somewhat substandard to .com and .cn provides a “true” Chinese domain name.

One disadvantage of there being 2 versions is that it forces those weary of domain name blackmailing to cover their tracks and pay more money to buy both .com.cn and .cn. Domain name blackmailing was popular back in the days when for example, an individual would buy www.cocacola.cn and then ask for a ridiculously large sum of money from Coca Cola, to get it back.