A director is a statutory office with duties — a WeChat group admin is not a director.
Limited companies may have a board or a single director under current Company Law. Directors manage and are subject to loyalty and care duties, including capital-contribution checking. They can be liable to the company and, in defined cases, to third parties. Employee-director rules apply in some companies. Foreign individuals can serve, subject to entry and KYC. This page is the office. The board as a body is the related pages. Managers are employees/officers, not automatic directors.
4 questions before you choose the route.
This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.
Board or sole director?
What the AOA says.
FormWho is also legal representative?
Overlap risk.
LRAny unpaid capital they should have called?
Checking duty.
CapitalConflicts and related-party deals?
Loyalty.
DutyWorking rule: Map the regulated role before marketing or launch in China.
The signal ledger.
These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.
Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.
Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.
Questions people ask before they build.
Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.
Can the sole shareholder be sole director and LR?
Often yes in a small limited company. Concentration of risk is the point of the LR page.
Do directors need a work permit?
If they will actually work in China, immigration law still applies. Sitting on a board from abroad is a different fact.
Primary authorities
Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.