Formally de-registration is very important and necessary to the foreign investors who want to quit business from the Chinese Market. Before you initiate the formal de-registration, you need to check "total owner's equity" on your latest balance sheet and see whether the assets are more than liabilities. If not, according to the P.R.C. laws and regulations, the company is required to apply for bankruptcy (approved by the court) instead of de-registration. It will take at least four to six months for the whole de-registration procedures. Because de-registration is quite complicated (it will involve in tax, accounting, customers, assets settlement and human resource issues etc.)