The top-level domain (TLD) that you’ve mentioned, XN—1QQW23A, is a Punycode representation of a Internationalized Domain Name (IDN). This code system was created in order to enable Internet domain names to be represented in diverse alphabets and scripts.
The specific Punycode domain that you mentioned, XN—1QQW23A, decodes to the IDN “佛山”, which is Chinese for “Foshan”. Foshan is a city in China’s Guangdong Province, not far from Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Its TLD is one of many geographic TLDs (GeoTLDs) that have been assigned to specific locations like cities or regions. Geographical TLDs have been an option for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization in charge of managing these TLDs, since 2012.
To understand better, let’s first look at how TLDs and in particular, GeoTLDs, work. TLD is the last segment of a domain name – the letters immediately following the final dot in an Internet address. Some classic examples include .COM, .GOV, .NET, and .ORG. The ICANN designates GeoTLDs to provide more locally relevant online spaces for communities, businesses, organizations, and individuals.
Foshan’s TLD follows the recent surge in GeoTLDs that are represented in local scripts. The Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) system allows domain names to be encoded in non-Latin scripts such as Arabic, Cyrillic, and Chinese. The use of these IDNs expands the web’s accessibility to users who otherwise might struggle with Latin alphabets.
The Punycode system translates these non-Latin scripts into a format that can be read by the Domain Name System (DNS), which is currently limited to ASCII — a format which includes Latin characters, digits, and a limited set of symbols. For instance, the Punycode for the Chinese script 佛山 is XN—1QQW23A.
The information in this response is sourced from recognized and reliable organizations and platforms such as ICANN, which oversees the global domain name system, and Punycoder, a tool used for encoding and decoding Punycodes.
In conclusion, the top-level domain XN—1QQW23A represents the city name Foshan, which is written in Chinese characters. It showcases how the web continues to evolve for better inclusivity and localization, creating spaces for non-Latin scripts via the Internationalized Domain Names system and Punycode.
Sources:
1. “Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)” – ICANN
(https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/idn-2012-02-25-en)
1. “GeoTLDs” – ICANN
(https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/geotlds-2012-02-25-en)
1. Punycoder
(http://www.punycoder.com)
