Typeform in China: Four Form Embeds Checked

Of the four form tools checked here, three lean on a host that GreatFire reads as blocked in mainland China. Google Forms runs on docs.google.com, blocked in both conclusive tests, the last on 1 September 2026. Jotform’s form.jotform.com was blocked on 7 September 2026, and Mailchimp’s classic embed takes its stylesheet from cdn-images.mailchimp.com, blocked on 10 September. Typeform is the odd one out: its form host reads reachable (30 September 2026) and its embed script has never been tested.

From an office in London or New York the forms load, so the problem stays out of sight. Our China Site Scanner flags Typeform and Mailchimp embeds on any page you give it. The fix is the one our HubSpot guide sets out: own the form and keep each submission on your own server before it goes anywhere else.

Typeform in China and three other embeds: GreatFire’s verdicts

GreatFire read https://docs.google.com as blocked in 2 of 2 conclusive tests, last tested 1 September 2026, and https://form.jotform.com as blocked in 1 of 1, last tested 7 September 2026. Source: GreatFire, September 2026. https://en.greatfire.org/https/docs.google.com and https://en.greatfire.org/https/form.jotform.com

GreatFire read https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com as blocked in 1 of 1 conclusive tests, last tested 10 September 2026, and https://form.typeform.com as not blocked, 0 of 1, last tested 30 September 2026. It lists https://embed.typeform.com as “not been tested yet”. Source: GreatFire, September 2026. https://en.greatfire.org/https/cdn-images.mailchimp.com, https://en.greatfire.org/https/form.typeform.com and https://en.greatfire.org/https/embed.typeform.com

Each verdict rests on one or two tests, so read it with its date. All of them were read at the source on 26 October 2026, and 21YunBox, whose mainland probes we cite on other pages, no longer publishes a timed figure for Typeform or Mailchimp. We recheck the table once its oldest verdict passes 90 days.

Where each embed can break

Start with Google Forms, the easy one to explain. The embed HTML from the Forms menu points the frame at your form’s responder address, which Google’s own API documentation shows on docs.google.com/forms. With that host blocked, the frame has nothing to load.

A Google Form’s responder address takes the form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/{id}/viewform. Source: Google for Developers, Google Forms API overview, last updated 3 September 2026. https://developers.google.com/workspace/forms/api/guides

Jotform follows the same pattern on another host. Its form links sit on form.jotform.com, and the JavaScript embed Jotform recommends draws the form on your page with a script.

“The custom form URL has the following structure: https://form.jotform.com/{yourUsername}/{your-custom-url-slug}” Source: Jotform Help, How to Create a Custom Form URL, last updated 3 June 2026. https://www.jotform.com/help/261-how-to-create-a-custom-url-of-a-form/

Jotform’s JavaScript embed “works by loading a small script that displays your form directly on your web page”. Source: Jotform Help, How to Embed a Form on a Web Page, last updated 30 September 2026. https://www.jotform.com/help/34-embedding-a-form-to-a-web-page/

Mailchimp’s classic embed splits the risk. It pastes the form fields into your own page, so the fields arrive with your HTML. What comes from the blocked host is the stylesheet: the file on cdn-images.mailchimp.com is headed “MailChimp Form Embed Code - Classic”. The sign-up then posts to an address under list-manage.com, where GreatFire has too little recent data for a verdict. Mailchimp’s own help pages add one more dependency: the embed uses jQuery to validate the form and show the success message. This page checks the classic embed; if your code differs, look up each host it names.

The stylesheet at https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/embedcode/classic-071822.css opens with the comment “MailChimp Form Embed Code - Classic”; the server gives its last modification as 23 August 2022. Source: Mailchimp, embed stylesheet, last modified 23 August 2022. https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/embedcode/classic-071822.css

“The embed form code uses jQuery to validate the form and display responses such as the success message that appears when someone clicks the Subscribe button.” Source: Mailchimp Help, Troubleshooting the Embedded Signup Form, read 26 October 2026. https://mailchimp.com/help/troubleshooting-the-embedded-signup-form/

Typeform has the thinnest record. Its Embed SDK loads embed.typeform.com/next/embed.js, a host with no test on record, to draw a form that lives on form.typeform.com (one test, one pass). We give the script no verdict.

Typeform’s standard embed loads its script from //embed.typeform.com/next/embed.js. Source: Typeform Developers, Embed SDK, read 26 October 2026. https://www.typeform.com/developers/embed/vanilla/

Forms without a custom subdomain use “the standard form.typeform.com subdomain”. Source: Typeform Help Center, How to customize your form URL, updated 22 October 2026. https://help.typeform.com/hc/en-us/articles/360029251372-How-to-customize-your-form-URL

None of these failures announce themselves.

Where a host is blocked, the form tool sends no error email, because the request never reached it. Responses from mainland visitors simply stop arriving, and in a monthly report that looks like a market with little interest.

Own the form, then decide where the data goes

So the form has to stop depending on any of these hosts.

Build the form in plain HTML on your own server, inside China if the site is hosted there, and write every submission to your own database before anything else happens. The form then depends on nothing but your page. It’s dull work, and it’s the version that keeps every lead. Spam protection is part of the same job. Mailchimp’s own help page tells you to “enable reCAPTCHA confirmation” against fake sign-ups, and our guide to reCAPTCHA in China covers what to use instead.

Whether the stored submission can go on to the original tool depends on what that tool lets a server do.

The Mailchimp Marketing API documents POST /3.0/lists/{list_id}/members, “Add member to list”. Source: Mailchimp Developer, Marketing API reference, read 26 October 2026. https://mailchimp.com/developer/marketing/api/list-members/add-member-to-list/

Jotform’s API documentation shows a submission sent with POST to https://api.jotform.com/form/{formID}/submissions. Source: Jotform API documentation, read 26 October 2026. https://api.jotform.com/docs/

The Google Forms API offers two methods on form responses: get, “Get one response from the form”, and list, “List a form’s responses”. Source: Google for Developers, Google Forms API REST reference, last updated 8 April 2025. https://developers.google.com/workspace/forms/api/reference/rest

For Mailchimp and Jotform, a background job forwards each stored submission and retries on failure. GreatFire has never tested api.mailchimp.com or api.jotform.com, so build the retry in from the start. HubSpot works the same way, through its Submit data to a form API.

For Typeform and Google Forms, the submission’s journey ends in your own database. Export it to the team that works the leads, or into your CRM. If the mainland team would rather use a Chinese form builder, the names to look at are Jinshuju (金数据), Wenjuanxing (问卷星) and Tencent Survey (腾讯问卷).

Connecting the stored submissions to your CRM is technical integration work, and it belongs on the same mainland server as the form.

Frequently asked

Does Typeform work in China?

On the record we have, partly. GreatFire’s one test of form.typeform.com, on 30 September 2026, connected normally. The embed script on embed.typeform.com has never been tested, so there is no record of whether an embedded Typeform loads for a visitor in Shenzhen. A form you host yourself removes the question.

Can I embed a Google Form on a site for visitors in China?

Not reliably. Google Forms serves its forms from docs.google.com, which GreatFire read as blocked in both of its conclusive tests, the last on 1 September 2026. And the Forms API can only read responses, so a submission captured on your own server can’t be added to the Google Form later.

What should replace a Mailchimp signup form in China?

A plain HTML form on your own server that stores each sign-up, then a job that sends it to Mailchimp through the Add member to list API. The classic embed’s stylesheet host was blocked on GreatFire’s last test, on 10 September 2026, and the host that receives sign-ups has no verdict.