Chinese contracts and invoices arrive stamped with a red circular seal, usually called a chop. It matters far more than a signature does in most Western practice, and importers reasonably treat it as proof the document is genuine. It is better read as evidence that a company intended to be bound — which is a narrower claim, and not the same as evidence that the company is the one you think it is.
- The chop, not the signature, is what usually binds a Chinese company.
- A company holds several different chops, each for a different purpose.
- The characters on the chop are the legal name — compare them to the business licence.
- A chop proves intent to be bound, not that the company is solvent, real or the right one.
- A document with no chop is the more serious warning sign.
Why the chop matters more than a signature
In Chinese commercial practice the company seal functions as the company acting. A document bearing the official chop is normally treated as an act of the company itself, whoever physically applied it. That is why chops are held under tight internal control and why their misuse is treated seriously.
The practical consequence for an importer is that a contract with a chop and no signature is usually stronger than one with a signature and no chop — the reverse of the instinct most buyers bring to it.
Not one chop, but several
A company typically holds more than one seal, and they are not interchangeable. Seeing the wrong one on a document is not automatically sinister, but it is worth a question.
| Chop | Ordinarily used for |
|---|---|
| Company chop | Contracts and general company documents |
| Finance chop | Banking instructions and payment documents |
| Invoice chop | Official invoices |
| Legal representative chop | Acts of the named legal representative |
A sales contract carrying only an invoice chop, or a bank instruction carrying only the general company chop, is the kind of mismatch worth raising before you pay rather than after.
What the chop does not tell you
This is where the reassurance runs out. A chop speaks to intention, not to identity, capacity or honesty.
- It does not confirm the company is trading, solvent or holds the goods.
- It does not confirm the company is the manufacturer rather than an intermediary.
- It does not confirm the bank account on the invoice belongs to that company.
- It does not survive being copied — an image on a PDF proves very little on its own.
The one check worth doing every time
The single most useful thing about a chop is that it carries the company legal name in Chinese characters. That gives you something to compare against.
- 1Read the characters on the chop, not the English trading name on the letterhead.
- 2Compare them with the legal name on the business licence you were sent.
- 3Compare both with the account name on the payment instruction.
- 4If any of the 3 differ, ask why before sending money, and expect a documented answer.
English trading names are marketing. The Chinese legal name is the identity that a licence, a bank account and a contract all attach to, and the chop is one of the few places it appears in front of you without being asked for.
Frequently asked questions
Is a scanned chop on a PDF acceptable?
It is normal commercial practice for routine documents, and it is also trivially copied. Treat it as ordinary evidence rather than as verification, and rely on it less as the amount rises.
The chop is in Chinese and I cannot read it. What do I do?
You do not need to read Chinese to compare two sets of characters for a match against the business licence. Where the amount justifies it, have the name checked properly rather than by eye.
What if a document has no chop at all?
Ask for one. An unstamped contract from a Chinese company is unusual, and the explanation is worth hearing before the order proceeds.
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