After China’s crackdown on the .cn domain name, registrations have fallen by 39% in the last four months alone, despite the fact that the country re-opened registration after the ban.
Because the cheap registrations had made the ccTLD a popular name for porn and other illegal activities, China cracked down on ownership of the names, requiring all registrants to provide significant documentation in order to keep their .cn domain names. During this time frame, China banned all non-Chinese registrars from selling the domain names. Because of this, many large Registrars ceased offering the extension, contributing to its rapid decline.
Despite the fall, the .cn ccTLD is the 3rd largest ccTLD behind .de (Germany) and .uk (United Kingdom).