Privacy Policy

Last updated: 11 August 2026

1. Who we are

ExpatChina is operated by 北京之恒商务服务有限公司, a company registered in Beijing, China (“ExpatChina”, “we”, “us” or “our”).

Registered or business address: 北京市朝阳区望京东园四区2号楼中航产融大厦5层

This policy explains how we handle personal information when you use ExpatChina, including our guides, directories, consultation forms and provider enquiry form.

2. Information we collect

Information you provide

When you ask for a consultation or contact us, we collect your name, email address, optional phone number and the message you choose to provide. We also record that you agreed to be contacted about the request.

If you submit a request through a listing page, we also record the listing, directory type and city connected to that request, the page URL and, where present in the URL, UTM source, medium and campaign values.

When you use Add Your Business, we collect the organisation name, contact name, email address, optional phone number, official website, request type, message, source page URL and confirmation that you agreed to be contacted.

Information about businesses and providers

We publish directory information gathered from public or official business sources and from provider submissions. This may include an organisation’s name, website, public business email or phone number, location and service details. Where a listing identifies a person, we treat a request to correct, remove or review it as a privacy and listing-governance matter.

Technical and security information

Our forms use a security nonce, hidden anti-spam field, form-start time and a short server-side rate limit. The current form code creates a one-minute transient based on a hashed request IP address to help prevent repeated submissions. It does not write the raw IP address or user-agent into the lead record.

Hosting, caching, security and server services may process technical request information such as IP address, browser or device information, timestamps and request logs. Hostinger identifies the website server as located in Asia (Singapore) and backups as located in Mumbai, India. We do not make a broader claim about the location of every database, log, cache or support system. On production, Cloudflare currently proxies public site traffic and may process ordinary network-request information as part of that service.

3. Why we use information

respond to consultation, contact and provider-enquiry requests;
understand the listing or page connected to a request;
review proposed listings and listing updates;
protect forms and the site from spam, misuse and security incidents;
operate, secure, maintain and improve the website; and
meet applicable legal obligations and handle legitimate requests.

We do not use the current consultation forms to create public profiles or to make automated decisions about you.

4. Legal bases where relevant

The legal basis for processing depends on the law that applies to you and to ExpatChina. We use information to respond to a request you submit, operate and secure the site, meet legal obligations and, where required, obtain consent before an independent-provider disclosure or another processing activity that requires it.

5. Cookies and similar technologies

At MVP launch, HubSpot and Google Analytics are disabled/not active. The staging audit did not observe analytics or advertising tags and the public homepage response did not set a cookie. The form anti-spam control is server-side; it is not an advertising cookie.

Some necessary site, security, login or service-provider technologies may use cookies or similar identifiers. If we enable analytics, marketing, a newsletter tool, account features or non-essential cookies, we will update this policy and provide any required notice or consent mechanism before using them.

6. Service providers and recipients

We use WordPress and the ExpatChina Core plugin to store private enquiries. Hostinger identifies the website server as located in Asia (Singapore) and its backup location as Mumbai, India. The audit did not separately identify the WordPress database, object-cache or log-storage locations.

The current form handlers send a generic notification to the configured WordPress administrator email address. The notification identifies the private record for review but does not include submitted form-field values. The available configuration uses WordPress wp_mail() and the hosting environment’s PHP mail facility; no separate SMTP service or external SMTP provider was identified in the audit. We do not identify a particular downstream mail relay or mailbox provider where it cannot be verified.

When a user views a map on a listing page, the browser requests map tiles from OpenStreetMap tile domains. Those requests are made directly by the browser and may disclose technical request information such as IP address to the map service.

We do not currently send consultation or provider-enquiry data to HubSpot, and we do not automatically send it to an independent provider. We may help connect a user with Asomerit or another suitable provider only after internal review. Before disclosing personal information to an independent provider, we will give the required recipient information and obtain any separate consent required by applicable law. The legal-entity relationship, if any, between Asomerit and 北京之恒商务服务有限公司 is not assumed by this policy.

7. International data transfers

The operator is in China. Hostinger identifies the website server as being in Singapore and backups as being in Mumbai, India. Production traffic currently passes through Cloudflare, while staging traffic is direct to Hostinger; we do not state a specific Cloudflare processing or storage location. When a map is viewed, the visitor’s browser requests tiles directly from a, b or c.tile.openstreetmap.org, which may process ordinary connection and request metadata outside the visitor’s country. These facts mean cross-border processing may occur; they do not mean every enquiry is sent to every provider or country.

8. How long we keep information

Personal information in consultation leads, contact requests and provider enquiries is normally retained for up to 24 months after the last meaningful interaction. We delete it earlier when we receive a valid deletion request, unless continued retention is required for legal compliance, recordkeeping, the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, or another applicable legal obligation. Public/factual business-directory information is governed separately from this personal lead-retention policy. Log, mailbox and backup retention may follow the applicable service-provider or operational schedule.

9. Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures designed to protect information. Current controls include private WordPress record types, disabled public lead archives and REST output, administrator-focused access controls, form validation, anti-spam measures and rate limiting. No system can guarantee absolute security.

10. Your choices and rights

Depending on applicable law, you may have rights to ask for access to, correction or deletion of your personal information, or to object to or restrict certain processing. Where processing relies on consent, you may withdraw it for future processing. To make a request, contact [email protected]. We may need to verify your identity and may retain information where required or permitted by law.

11. Children’s information

ExpatChina is not directed to children. Do not submit personal information about a child through our forms unless you are authorised to do so and it is necessary for your request. If you believe that a child has provided personal information improperly, contact [email protected].

12. Third-party websites and services

Our directory may link to providers, social sharing services, map services and other third-party websites. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies. We are not responsible for third-party websites or services.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when the service, data processing or applicable requirements change. We will publish the revised version with an updated date.

14. Contact

For privacy questions, listing corrections involving personal information, or a request about your information, contact [email protected].