China Opens Domains for Individuals, Registrations Increase More Than 20 Fold in One Day

Yesterday, CNNIC lifted China’s ban on individual registration of ‘.cn’ and ‘.中国’ domain names. We already knew that was going to happen, of course, and we figured it was likely to result in increased domain registrations, since registration dropped so much back in 2009 when CNNIC mandated that ‘.cn’ domain owners transfer their domain registration to a licensed business or lose the registration. But now we know that in just the first 24 hours, registrations are coming in at twenty times the normal rate. And it could go even higher. The GM of one company that handles domain registrations in China told the Beijing Morning Post yesterday:

Because it hasn’t been 24 hours yet, we don’t have precise data, but up to 3 P.M. [yesterday], we have already received more than 1,000 new registration orders [for .cn and .中国], which is more than twenty times the usual rate of registration. We expect that will have an increase of thirty or forty times the usual rate by midnight.

It’s not clear whether they did hit forty times the number of normal daily registration orders or not, but it’s quite clear that plenty of individuals are excited to get their hands on ‘.cn’ and ‘.中国’ domain names. Personally, I’m hoping this may lead to the resurrection of the old relevantorgans.cn site, the long-dormant long-form companion to everyone’s favorite satirical twitter feed.

[Beijing Morning Post via Sina Tech]