Gov.cn

gov.cn is the official website of the State Council of China and is hosted by the General Office of the State Council. gov.cn was launched on trial on 1 October 2005 and officially launched on 1 January 2006. It currently has Chinese and English versions. In the Chinese version of the webpage, users can choose to display text in simplified Chinese or traditional Chinese.

gov.cn

Native name	中国政府网
Type of site	Web portal
Available in	Mandarin Chinese (Simplified, Traditional), English
Founded	January 1, 2006; 19 years ago (2006-01-01)
Owner	General Office of the State Council
Parent	China Government Network Operation Center
URL	www.gov.cn english.www.gov.cn
Advertising	Yes
Registration	None
Current status	Active

Gov.cn
Simplified Chinese	中华人民共和国中央人民政府门户网站
Traditional Chinese	中華人民共和國中央人民政府入口網站
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Zhōngyāng Rénmín Zhèngfǔ Ménhù Wǎngzhàn
Alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	中国政府网
Traditional Chinese	中國政府網
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōngguó Zhèngfǔ Wǎng

History

gov.cn was launched on trial on 1 October 2005 and officially launched on 1 January 2006.^[1]

On 11 October 2013, the official Xinhua Weibo, Tencent Weibo and WeChat accounts of the Chinese Government Website were launched, and on December 18, its Weibo account was launched. On 28 February 2014, the new version of the Chinese Government Website was launched, with a sky blue and white background, and a new set of simpler columns.^[2]  In March, the Chinese Government Website launched the "I want to say something to the Premier" column, where netizens can send good opinions and suggestions directly to the Premier's desk.^[3] On 8 October, the new English version of the Chinese Government Website was also officially launched.^[4] The mobile client of the Chinese government website (State Council client) was launched on 26 February 2016.^[5]

Content

The self-introduction and definition of the gov.cn is: "The Chinese Government Network is a comprehensive platform for the State Council and its departments, as well as the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government, to publish government information and provide online services on the Internet."^[1]

Domain name standard

China has a standard regulating the use of government domain names, including subdomains of gov.cn:^[6]

1. The domain names of provincial governments (and other ones at the same level, e.g., municipalities directly under the central government, autonomous regions) use the format www.abbreviatedname.gov.cn;
2. The domain names for the prefecture governments (also cities and leagues) use the format www.fullname.gov.cn;
3. The domain names for the county/district governments use the format www.abbreviatednameofprovince+fullnameofcounty.gov.cn

All domain name use geographical names expressed in Hanyu Pinyin, for the minority regions, the Pinyin translation from the minority language is used as approved by the Naming Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.^[6]