An IDN (internationalised domain name) is a domain written in a script other than the Latin alphabet - Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cyrillic, Arabic and others. How it works under the surface The DNS itself only understands Latin letters, digits and hyphens. An IDN is converted to a matching ASCII form, called punycode, and that is what actually travels across the network. When you type the Chinese form, the browser converts it and asks for the punycode version. What that means for you Register both forms where it matters. If your brand is written in Chinese, registering the Chinese form and the ASCII form keeps the identity consistent, and not every visitor can type the Chinese form on a keyboard that is not theirs. Check the punycode before you commit. Two different Chinese strings can look similar, and a name that converts into something odd is hard to support later. Some endings support IDN, some do not. Search accepts the Chinese form and tells you whether the ending you want is available for it. Homograph risk Characters from different scripts can render almost identically. That is a tool for phishing, and it works against you as well as for you: a visitor may land on a lookalike instead of your site. Where the risk matters, register the obvious lookalikes or choose an ending with stricter rules. Email An IDN mailbox address exists, but support varies by mail client. If you plan to send from a Chinese address, test it against the clients your customers actually use before making it the main contact.