What to Do if a Chinese Company Refuses to Pay

Do not ship more, do not wait for ‘next month’ — identify, freeze if needed, then paper the claim.

When a PRC company stops paying, the first week is operational not theatrical: stop further performance if the contract allows, capture WeChat/email, pull the USCC, list assets, check limitation, and decide whether a preservation application should beat a polite letter (letters tip flight). Then demand or file in the chosen forum. Criminal complaints are for fraud facts, not ordinary cash-flow. This is the first-moves page. The stack and the long collection guide stay beside it.

The classification screen

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.

Stop the bleeding?

Further goods, further IP, further credit.

Stop

Who and where?

USCC, LR, banks.

Freeze before they hear you?

Preservation vs letter.

Freeze

Limitation diary?

Three-year default.

Clock

Working rule: When a PRC company stops paying, the first week is operational not theatrical: stop further performance if the contract allows, capture WeChat/email, pull the USCC, list assets, check limitation, and decide whether a preservation application should beat a polite letter (letters tip flight).

What changes the answer

The signal ledger.

These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.

Signal

Ask the operating question

Why it changes the route

One more shipment to keep them happy

Throwing good money.

Usually wrong.

Wait for CNY

Clock still running.

Diary it.

Criminal first

Using police as a collector.

Fraud page if facts exist.

Prepare before you escalate

Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.

Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.

01Unpaid invoices and delivery proofThe debt.

02Latest WeChat excusesAcknowledgment?

03Licence and asset leadsWho to freeze.

Common confusions

Questions people ask before they build.

Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.

Should I fly in and confront them?

Usually no. Paper, freeze, counsel. A factory-gate scene rarely helps.

Is this the collection guide?

No.

Primary authorities

Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.

PRC Civil Procedure Law (NPC)

Supreme People’s Court

PRC Company Law (NPC)

National laws database (NPC)