WFOE stands for Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise. It is a limited liability company owned by foreign parties, individual or corporate, incorporated in Mainland China.

A Joint Venture (JV) is formed by one or more foreign investor(s), along with one or more Chinese entities. Usually, a foreign investor should own at least 25% of the shares.

Representative office (RO) is a local presence in China for a foreign company. RO exists to allow a foreign parent company conduct business meetings, perform quality control, promotion of products or services and market research.