--- title: Marriott’s Big China Blunder a Lesson for International Brands description: Marriott International has had its China website shut down for over a week after the site listed Tibet, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan as “countries”. image: https://blog.sinorbis.com/hubfs/Marriotts%20Big%20China%20Blunder%20a%20lesson%20for%20International%20brands2.jpg --- [![Sinorbis logo](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hs-fs/hubfs/images/sinorbis-logo-2.png?width=457&name=sinorbis-logo-2.png "Sinorbis logo")](https://www.sinorbis.com/) [![sinorbis logo](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hs-fs/hubfs/images/sinorbis-logo-1.png?width=457&name=sinorbis-logo-1.png "sinorbis logo")](https://www.sinorbis.com/) - Login - Contact us - Request a Demo - [中文](https://sinorbis.cn/) - Test ### Pick a topic - [From the Web (97)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/from-the-web) - [Digital Marketing in China (90)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/digital-marketing-in-china) - [Education (63)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/education) - [Consumer Marketing in China (54)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/consumer-marketing-in-china) - [Chinese Consumers (49)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/chinese-consumers) - [Doing business in China (41)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/doing-business-in-china) - [WeChat Marketing (33)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/wechat-marketing) - [Social Media in China (31)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/social-media-in-china) - [Ecommerce in China (23)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/ecommerce-in-china) - [B2B marketing in China (18)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/b2b-marketing-in-china) - [Search Marketing in China (18)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/search-marketing-in-china) - [Feature release (11)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/feature-release) - [Tourism (10)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/tourism) - [Asia digital marketing (9)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/asia-digital-marketing) - [WhatsApp Marketing (8)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/whatsapp-marketing) - [News (1)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/sinorbis-china-news) ### Pick a topic - [From the Web (97)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/from-the-web) - [Digital Marketing in China (90)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/digital-marketing-in-china) - [Education (63)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/education) - [Consumer Marketing in China (54)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/consumer-marketing-in-china) - [Chinese Consumers (49)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/chinese-consumers) - [Doing business in China (41)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/doing-business-in-china) - [WeChat Marketing (33)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/wechat-marketing) - [Social Media in China (31)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/social-media-in-china) - [Ecommerce in China (23)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/ecommerce-in-china) - [B2B marketing in China (18)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/b2b-marketing-in-china) - [Search Marketing in China (18)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/search-marketing-in-china) - [Feature release (11)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/feature-release) - [Tourism (10)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/tourism) - [Asia digital marketing (9)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/asia-digital-marketing) - [WhatsApp Marketing (8)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/whatsapp-marketing) - [News (1)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/sinorbis-china-news) [Show All](https://blog.sinorbis.com) ###### [Sinorblog](https://blog.sinorbis.com) / [From the Web](https://blog.sinorbis.com/topic/from-the-web) / Marriott’s Big China Blunder a Lesson for.. 1 min read # Marriott’s Big China Blunder a Lesson for International Brands January 19, 2018 | ![](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hubfs/Sinorbis%20Blog%20Page%20Images/read-img.png)   [Christine Lee](https://blog.sinorbis.com/author/christine-lee) *As reported by Jing Daily.* Marriott International has had its China website shut down for over a week after the site listed Tibet, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan as “countries”. Officially, the first three locations are “autonomous regions” of China, while Hong Kong and Macau are “special administrative regions”. Beijing considers Taiwan to be a “breakaway province” controlled by an illegitimate government. [Read full article](https://jingdaily.com/marriotts-blunder-a-warning-in-dealing-with-beijings-understanding-of-history/) Marriott’s mistake was (arguably) innocuous. For all intents and purposes, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan are “countries” in the sense that they have separate visa and entry requirements. Chinese citizens cannot freely come and go from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan and must apply for visas and permits. ### Don't forget to share this post! - [![](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hubfs/Sinorbis%20Blog%20Page%20Images/facebook1.png)](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://blog.sinorbis.com/marriotts-big-china-blunder-a-lesson-for-international-brands) - [![](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hubfs/Sinorbis%20Blog%20Page%20Images/twitter.png)](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https://blog.sinorbis.com/marriotts-big-china-blunder-a-lesson-for-international-brands) - ![](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hubfs/Sinorbis%20Blog%20Page%20Images/whatsapp1.png) - [![](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hubfs/Sinorbis%20Blog%20Page%20Images/linkedin1.png)](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https://blog.sinorbis.com/marriotts-big-china-blunder-a-lesson-for-international-brands) - [![](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hubfs/Sinorbis%20Blog%20Page%20Images/messenger1.png)](https://www.facebook.com/dialog/send?link=https://blog.sinorbis.com/marriotts-big-china-blunder-a-lesson-for-international-brands) - ![](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hubfs/Sinorbis%20Blog%20Page%20Images/link-open-flat1.png) - ![](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hubfs/Sinorbis%20Blog%20Page%20Images/has.png) ### Read more about From the Web #### [1 min read 1433 March 3, 2021 Digital Marketing in China: Top News Stories ![Read this article](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hubfs/Sinorbis%20Blog%20Page%20Images/right-arrow.png) ![Read this article](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hubfs/Sinorbis%20Blog%20Page%20Images/right-arrow-white.webp)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/digital-marketing-in-china-our-top-stories-for-february-2021) #### [1 min read 1244 February 3, 2021 Digital Marketing in China: our top stories for January 2021 ![Read this article](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hubfs/Sinorbis%20Blog%20Page%20Images/right-arrow.png) ![Read this article](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hubfs/Sinorbis%20Blog%20Page%20Images/right-arrow-white.webp)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/digital-marketing-in-china-our-top-stories-for-january-2021) #### [1 min read 2135 December 21, 2020 Digital Marketing in China: our top stories for December 2020 ![Read this article](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hubfs/Sinorbis%20Blog%20Page%20Images/right-arrow.png) ![Read this article](https://blog.sinorbis.com/hubfs/Sinorbis%20Blog%20Page%20Images/right-arrow-white.webp)](https://blog.sinorbis.com/digital-marketing-in-china-our-top-stories-for-december-2020) ## Ready to get started? 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