What is Alibaba Cloud and how to get started

What a foreign business must clear to run on Alibaba Cloud in mainland China

Fact	Primary source
Alibaba Cloud's China site and International site are two separate clouds, not one login with a China region. In Alibaba Cloud's own words the China Website (aliyun.com) and the International Website (alibabacloud.com) are "two completely separate sites" that "operate separate account, billing, and legal compliance systems," and "the account data of the two sites is completely isolated and cannot be shared" — "an account cannot be changed from one to the other." China-site data is "Stored in data centers in the Chinese mainland"; International-site data is "Stored in overseas data centers outside the Chinese mainland."	Alibaba Cloud — "Alibaba Cloud China Website vs. International Website" (help.aliyun.com), retrieved 2026-10-07
Hosting on an Alibaba Cloud mainland server makes Alibaba Cloud your ICP access provider — the filing is neither optional nor portable. Alibaba Cloud: "You must complete your ICP filing through the actual access provider for your website or application," and "In this case, Alibaba Cloud is your network access provider"; even a site already filed elsewhere "must also complete an ICP filing with Alibaba Cloud to use our services." This is the ICP regime under the Measures for the Administration of Internet Information Services (State Council Order No. 292) and the non-commercial filing measures (MIIT Order No. 33). How ICP filing works →	Alibaba Cloud — "ICP filing must be completed through the actual access provider" (help.aliyun.com), retrieved 2026-10-07; State Council Order No. 292; MIIT Order No. 33
A mainland domain must be filed before it can serve, or the host blocks it — deploying compute is not the same as being allowed online. Per Alibaba Cloud, services "with domain names resolving to servers in the Chinese mainland … must obtain an ICP filing before providing services"; "You cannot serve Internet Information Services without a license or ICP filing," and otherwise "the Alibaba Cloud monitoring system blocks access to the domain name." Filing "applies only to servers located in the Chinese mainland," requires you to "submit server, website, and entity information for regulatory review," and to "register an Alibaba Cloud China site account."	Alibaba Cloud — ICP filing overview (alibabacloud.com), retrieved 2026-10-07
Even on the International site, buying mainland-region capacity triggers identity verification first. Alibaba Cloud: "You must complete identity verification before purchasing cloud services deployed in the Chinese mainland," a rule the page states for "users of the Alibaba Cloud International site." Enterprise verification needs a "Valid business document from the registration country/region," and "The verification document's issuing country or region must match the account's Country/Region setting." A company registered in the Chinese mainland is instead directed to "the Alibaba Cloud China site."	Alibaba Cloud — real-name / identity verification FAQ (alibabacloud.com), retrieved 2026-10-07
Serve China from an offshore Alibaba Cloud region instead and your mainland users' personal data leaves the country. Alibaba Cloud confirms International-site resources are "Stored in overseas data centers outside the Chinese mainland," and warns that buying mainland resources "is still subject to the laws and regulations of the Chinese mainland." Handling mainland users' personal information offshore is a cross-border transfer under PIPL — notice, separate consent and a transfer mechanism (Articles 38–43) — and for a critical-information-infrastructure operator or a large-volume handler the data must be stored in China (PIPL Article 40; Cybersecurity Law Article 39, formerly Article 37, effective 2026-01-01).	Alibaba Cloud — "China Website vs. International Website" (help.aliyun.com), retrieved 2026-10-07; PIPL Articles 38–43 & 40; Cybersecurity Law Article 39 (formerly Article 37)

Sources verified by the 21YunBox compliance team on 2026-10-07.

About Alibaba Cloud

Alibaba Cloud, also known as Aliyun (阿里云), is the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group. Founded in 2009, it is the largest public cloud provider in mainland China by market share and one of the leading cloud platforms across Asia.

It runs a full enterprise stack — Elastic Compute Service (ECS) for virtual machines, Object Storage Service (OSS), ApsaraDB managed databases, content delivery, and a deep catalog of networking, security, and AI services. Inside mainland China it operates availability zones in regions such as Hangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Zhangjiakou, alongside international regions in Singapore, the United States, Germany, and elsewhere.

Why your hosting region matters in China

Placing a workload in one of Alibaba Cloud’s mainland China regions puts it under the same rules every China-facing website has to follow. The factor that decides whether you can serve a public site from inside mainland China is not raw compute — it is the ICP filing (ICP 备案). Any domain served from a mainland region must carry a valid filing before it can legally go live, and that filing is tied to a China-registered business entity.

This is why a mainland Alibaba Cloud account on its own does not put you online. You also need real-name verification and, for a public website, a completed ICP filing for the domain you intend to serve.

How to get started on Alibaba Cloud

Step 1: Create an Alibaba Cloud account. The International and mainland China sites are provisioned separately and run under different terms, so choose the one that matches where you intend to operate.

Step 2: Complete real-name verification for your account.

Step 3: Choose your region. A mainland China region is required if you want your service to run on domestic networks inside the country; international regions do not require an ICP filing but are not inside mainland China.

Step 4: For a public mainland site, complete the ICP filing for your domain. This step depends on a China-registered entity and is the part most overseas teams get stuck on.

Step 5: Deploy your compute, storage, and networking, then point your filed domain at it.

No Chinese entity or ICP filing yet? We can help

Standing up the infrastructure is the easy part — the filing and the China entity behind it are where most overseas teams stall. 21YunBox helps you run your existing website and APIs inside mainland China in full compliance, ICP filing included, without re-architecting what you already ship.

Contact us to see how we get you live in China, legitimately.