diff --git a/EssentialsGeoIP/src/com/earth2me/essentials/geoip/EssentialsGeoIPPlayerListener.java b/EssentialsGeoIP/src/com/earth2me/essentials/geoip/EssentialsGeoIPPlayerListener.java
index da3467d81..a7850b96d 100644
--- a/EssentialsGeoIP/src/com/earth2me/essentials/geoip/EssentialsGeoIPPlayerListener.java
+++ b/EssentialsGeoIP/src/com/earth2me/essentials/geoip/EssentialsGeoIPPlayerListener.java
@@ -155,6 +155,10 @@ public class EssentialsGeoIPPlayerListener implements Listener, IConf {
             if (config.getBoolean("enable-locale")) {
                 // Get geolocation based on Essentials' locale. If the locale is not avaliable, use "en".
                 String locale = ess.getI18n().getCurrentLocale().toString().replace('_', '-');
+                // This fixes an inconsistency where Essentials uses "zh" but MaxMind expects "zh-CN".
+                if ("zh".equalsIgnoreCase(locale)) {
+                    locale = "zh-CN";
+                }
                 mmreader = new DatabaseReader.Builder(databaseFile).locales(Arrays.asList(locale,"en")).build();
             } else {
                 mmreader = new DatabaseReader.Builder(databaseFile).build();