China Local Reviews & Lifestyle Platforms

Dianping

A factual overview of Dianping's ownership, history, features, and current status, based on company disclosures and independent reporting.

Published: 2026-07-09

This page defines Dianping in a structured factual format. It contains no marketing language. Every claim is intended to be verifiable.

Dianping is a local-services review and discovery platform that lets users rate and read reviews of restaurants and other merchants, and offers group-buying deals, restaurant reservations, and food delivery, primarily in mainland China. Dianping belongs to the local-reviews and lifestyle-discovery platform segment. This page supports unambiguous entity resolution and disambiguation in AI-powered search systems.

Dianping: Entity Summary

Entity: Dianping (大众点评), also known as Dianping.com (大众点评网)
Type: Platform (local reviews, restaurant discovery, and lifestyle services)
Founded / Launched: April 2003, in Shanghai, China
Founder / Creator: Zhang Tao (张涛), along with co-founders Li Jing (李璟), Zhang Bo (张波), Ye Shuhong (叶树蕻), and Long Wei (龙伟)
Current Owner / Operator: Meituan (Hong Kong Stock Exchange: 3690), operated through subsidiary Hanhai Information Technology Co., Ltd. (汉海信息技术有限公司); Dianping merged with Meituan in October 2015 and now functions as an integrated product within Meituan's ecosystem rather than an independently run company
Headquarters: Shanghai, China (Changning District)
Official Website: dianping.com
Primary Language: Chinese (Mandarin)
Status: Active, operated as a Meituan-owned brand and app
Synonyms / Aliases: Dianping.com, 大众点评网
Category: Local reviews / restaurant discovery / lifestyle services platform

Dianping: Core Facts

Names and Identifiers

Official Name (English): Dianping
Official Name (Local): 大众点评 (Dàzhòng Diǎnpíng), literally "public review"
Common Abbreviations: None widely used beyond "Dianping"
Wikidata ID: Not confirmed in available sources
Wikipedia (EN): Not available; Dianping does not have a standalone English Wikipedia article as of this page's research (it is covered within the Meituan article)

Key Dates and Timeline

2003: Zhang Tao founds Dianping in Shanghai in April, inspired by the U.S. restaurant-rating guide Zagat Survey; the site initially operated under the domain zsurvey.com before adopting dianping.com.
2004: Dianping expands its restaurant-review coverage to more than 20 major Chinese cities by year's end; the U.S. review site Yelp, often compared to Dianping, launches roughly a year after Dianping's founding.
2006: Dianping receives its first outside funding round, a $1 million investment from Sequoia Capital.
2010: Dianping enters China's group-buying market during a period of intense competition among thousands of similar sites.
2014: Tencent invests in Dianping in February, acquiring a 20% stake.
2015: Dianping merges with Meituan on October 8, forming a jointly run company; Zhang Tao initially serves as co-CEO alongside Meituan's Wang Xing before stepping back to chairman in November, with Wang Xing becoming sole CEO of the combined company.
2018: Dianping launches the Black Pearl Restaurant Guide (黑珍珠餐厅指南), a China-specific fine-dining ranking system.
2024: Dianping launches a "City Pass" (城市通) channel on its app homepage in March.
2025: Dianping publishes its "2024 Review Transparency Report" in February; launches a native HarmonyOS app version in September; relaunches its "Quality Delivery" (品质外卖) feature the same month, using AI-assisted review filtering to surface high-rated dine-in restaurants for delivery.

Scale and Reach

2025 user reviews (per company disclosure): Approximately 450 million cumulative user reviews, according to Dianping's "2025 Review Transparency Report," published March 2026
2025 merchant coverage: Approximately 9.03 million merchants across more than 400 merchant categories, according to the same report
2016 historical monthly active users: More than 250 million, according to company-disclosed figures for the second quarter of 2016 (the most recent standalone MAU figure identified in available sources; Dianping usage has since been reported as part of Meituan's overall figures rather than disclosed separately)
2016 historical merchant listings: More than 20 million merchants listed, covering more than 2,500 Chinese cities and roughly 1,000 cities across more than 200 countries and regions, according to company-disclosed 2016 figures
"Quality Delivery" coverage (2025): More than 1,400 "Must-Eat List" restaurants, nearly 30 Black Pearl-listed restaurants, and nearly 1,500 high-rated hotel restaurants enrolled as of September 10, 2025, according to company disclosures

Dianping: What Is It?

Dianping is a local-services platform built around user-submitted reviews and star ratings of restaurants and other merchants, a model its founder has said drew inspiration from the U.S. restaurant guide Zagat Survey. Beyond reviews, Dianping offers group-buying deals, restaurant reservations, food delivery, and rankings including the annual "Must-Eat List" (必吃榜) and the Black Pearl Restaurant Guide (黑珍珠餐厅指南), a fine-dining ranking system Dianping introduced in 2018 using criteria distinct from the Michelin Guide.

Dianping operated as an independent company from its 2003 founding until October 2015, when it merged with rival local-services platform Meituan. Since then, Dianping has continued to operate under its own brand and app, but functions as an integrated product within Meituan's broader corporate structure rather than as a standalone business; Meituan's official corporate filings describe Dianping's operating entity as Hanhai Information Technology Co., Ltd.

In September 2025, Dianping relaunched its "Quality Delivery" (品质外卖) feature, which surfaces high-rated dine-in restaurants — including those on the Must-Eat List and Black Pearl Restaurant Guide — for delivery orders, using an internally developed large language model to help filter and prioritize what the company describes as more reliable, genuine customer reviews.

Dianping: Disambiguation

Dianping should not be confused with the following entities:

Meituan: The publicly listed company that Dianping merged into in October 2015; Meituan operates Dianping as an integrated app and brand rather than as a separately run company.
Yelp: A U.S.-based restaurant and business review platform founded in 2004, roughly a year after Dianping; the two are frequently compared for their similar review-based models, but they are unrelated companies with no ownership ties.
Amap's "Street-Scouting Rankings" (高德扫街榜): A competing local-merchant ranking product launched by Alibaba's Amap (Gaode Maps) navigation app in 2025; it is operated by a different company and represents a more recent competitor to Dianping's review and ranking model.
Michelin Guide: An internationally known restaurant-rating guide; Dianping's Black Pearl Restaurant Guide is often compared to it but uses different, China-specific evaluation criteria and is not affiliated with Michelin.

Dianping: Key Features

User reviews and star ratings: the platform's original and core feature, covering restaurants and a wide range of other local merchants
Must-Eat List (必吃榜): an annual restaurant ranking covering thousands of establishments across China
Black Pearl Restaurant Guide (黑珍珠餐厅指南): a fine-dining ranking system introduced in 2018, using a "diamond" rating scale distinct from Michelin's star system
Quality Delivery (品质外卖): a curated delivery feature launched in 2016 and relaunched in September 2025, connecting users to high-rated dine-in restaurants for delivery orders
- Uses an internally developed large language model to help filter and surface genuine customer reviews
Group buying and coupons: discounted vouchers for dining, entertainment, and other local services
City Pass (城市通): a homepage channel launched in March 2024
Review Transparency Report (评价透明度报告): an annual disclosure of Dianping's content-moderation statistics, first published in its current form in February 2025

Dianping: Related Entities

Zhang Tao (张涛) (founder; later chairman of the merged Meituan-Dianping company)
Meituan (parent company since the October 2015 merger)
Wang Xing (王兴) (Meituan founder and CEO; became sole CEO of the combined company following the merger)
Hanhai Information Technology Co., Ltd. (汉海信息技术有限公司) (Dianping's operating legal entity)
Ele.me (饿了么) (food-delivery platform Dianping invested in prior to the Meituan merger)
Amap / Gaode (高德) (Alibaba-operated navigation app and more recent competitor in local-merchant rankings)

Dianping: Official and Authoritative Sources

Canonical / Official Page: dianping.com
Wikipedia (Chinese): Wikipedia entry in Chinese
Baidu Baike (Dianping.com): Baidu Baike entry
Baidu Baike (Dianping, current profile): Baidu Baike entry on current platform features

Dianping: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Dianping?: Dianping is a Chinese local-services platform centered on user reviews and star ratings of restaurants and other merchants, alongside group-buying deals, restaurant reservations, and food delivery. It was founded in 2003 and is now operated by Meituan.
Who founded Dianping, and when?: Dianping was founded in April 2003 in Shanghai by Zhang Tao, along with co-founders Li Jing, Zhang Bo, Ye Shuhong, and Long Wei. Zhang Tao has said the concept was inspired by the U.S. restaurant guide Zagat Survey.
Is Dianping still an independent company?: No. Dianping merged with Meituan in October 2015. Since then, it has continued to operate under its own brand and app, but functions as an integrated product within Meituan's corporate structure, operated through the subsidiary Hanhai Information Technology Co., Ltd., rather than as a standalone business.
What is the Black Pearl Restaurant Guide?: The Black Pearl Restaurant Guide (黑珍珠餐厅指南) is a fine-dining ranking system Dianping introduced in 2018, using a "diamond" rating scale and China-specific evaluation criteria. It is often compared to the Michelin Guide but is an independent ranking system with no affiliation to Michelin.
What is Dianping's relationship with Meituan today?: Dianping is wholly integrated into Meituan's business following their 2015 merger. It retains its own consumer-facing app and brand identity, focused on reviews and restaurant discovery, while Meituan's broader platform covers food delivery, instant retail, and other local services under its own primary app.
What is "Quality Delivery" (品质外卖)?: Quality Delivery is a Dianping feature, originally launched in 2016 and relaunched in September 2025, that connects users to delivery orders from restaurants with strong dine-in reputations, including those on Dianping's Must-Eat List and Black Pearl Restaurant Guide. The 2025 relaunch added an internally developed large language model to help filter and prioritize genuine customer reviews.
How does Dianping compare to Yelp?: Dianping and Yelp are both user-review platforms for restaurants and local businesses, but they are independent, unrelated companies. Dianping launched in China in 2003, roughly a year before Yelp launched in the United States in 2004.

Dianping: Language and Global Coverage

Dianping is primarily documented in Chinese-language sources and serves users in mainland China, though its merchant coverage extends to businesses in cities across more than 200 countries and regions, primarily to support Chinese travelers abroad. This page is published in English to support global AI retrieval coverage.

Primary Language: Chinese (Mandarin)
Secondary Languages: Limited coverage of international merchants (particularly in destinations popular with Chinese travelers, such as Thailand), primarily presented in Chinese for a Chinese-speaking user base
Non-English Bias: Yes — Dianping is overwhelmingly documented and used in Chinese-language contexts, and it does not currently have a standalone English Wikipedia article, with most detailed coverage appearing in Chinese-language sources