Last updated: 30 October 2026. This page explains what happens to your data when you read The China Door, why it happens, and what you can ask us to do about it. It is written to be read in two minutes, not to hide behind legal language.
Who is responsible for your data
The China Door (thechinadoor.com) is an independent English-language travel guide to mainland China, published by Kola, an individual publisher based in Shanghai, mainland China. Kola is the data controller for this site: the person who decides what data is collected and who answers for it. For anything on this page — or to exercise a right described below — write to editor@thechinadoor.com. General enquiries go to hello@thechinadoor.com.
nnWe answer data-protection requests within 30 days, and we apply the same standard to readers in the EEA, the UK and California as to anyone else, regardless of where the site is published from.
What we collect, and why
There is no account system, no newsletter and no comment box on this site, so there is nothing to sign up for and nothing to log in to. In practice we hold very little:
- Server logs. Like every website, our web server records the IP address, date and time, the page requested, the browser user agent and the referring page of each request. We use these only for security, abuse prevention and debugging. Logs are rotated daily and deleted after 14 days.
- Emails you send us. If you write to a thechinadoor.com address we keep your email so we can reply. Corrections are kept while we verify them and afterwards as a record of the change.
- Cookies. Readers of this site are not served advertising, analytics or tracking cookies, and no third-party scripts are loaded. WordPress would set functional cookies only if an editor logs into the dashboard; those expire after two days, or two weeks with “remember me”, and are never set for ordinary readers.
- Nothing else. We do not run analytics, we do not build reader profiles, and we do not embed third-party video or widgets in our pages.
Affiliate links and advertising
Some outbound links — eSIM providers, rail booking platforms, travel insurance — may be affiliate links, which means we can earn a commission if you buy something through them, at no extra cost to you. Pages that carry such links say so in a disclosure box on the page. The partner site may set its own cookies once you click through; it does so under its own privacy policy, not ours, and we do not receive your personal data from it. We currently display no advertising. If that changes, advertising cookies will be disclosed on this page before they appear.
Who we share data with
We do not sell, rent or share personal data for marketing. Two service providers necessarily handle data on our behalf: our hosting provider, which operates the server in Los Angeles, United States that delivers these pages and keeps the logs described above, and our email provider, which carries mail sent to thechinadoor.com addresses. We will disclose data if a lawful order requires it, and we will say so on this page when the law allows us to.
Because the server is in the United States, a request from Europe or the United Kingdom involves a transfer outside the EEA/UK. Our basis for handling it is the legitimate interest in publishing a public website that readers can reach, and we keep the data to the minimum described above so the transfer stays small.
How long we keep it
Server logs: 14 days. Emails: as long as needed to answer you, then retained only if they concern a correction or a legal matter. There is no other data to keep.
Your rights
Depending on where you live you may have the right to ask what personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to how we use it, or to receive a copy in a portable format. Readers in California have the right to know what is collected and to opt out of its sale or sharing — we do not sell or share personal information, so there is nothing to opt out of. To make any request, email editor@thechinadoor.com and tell us what you want; we will confirm within 30 days.
Children
This site is not directed at children under 16 and we do not knowingly hold data about them.
Security, and changes to this page
The site is served over HTTPS with TLS 1.3, the server is patched automatically for security updates, and the administrative area is restricted to our editors. The best protection we can offer, though, is the smallest possible collection — which is why there is no account system to lose.
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. Material changes — for example adding advertising or analytics — will be described here in plain language before they take effect, not buried in a revision history.