Telephone numbers in China

In mainland China, mobile phone numbers have eleven digits in the format 1xx-XXXX-XXXX (except for 140–144, which are 13-digit IoT numbers), in which the first three digits (13x to 19x) designate the mobile phone service provider.

Before GSM, mobile phones had 6-digit (later upgraded to 7-digit) numbers starting with nine. They had the same numbering format as fixed-line telephones. Those numbers were eventually translated into 1390xx9xxx, where xx were local identifiers.

The oldest China Mobile GSM numbers were ten digits long and started with 139 in 1994, the second oldest 138 in 1997, and 137, 136, 135 in 1999. The oldest China Unicom numbers started with 130 in 1995, the second oldest at 131 in 1998. Keeping the same number over time is somewhat associated with the stability and reliability of the owner. The 5th to the seventh digit sometimes relates to age and location.

China's mobile telephone numbers were changed from ten digits to eleven digits, with 0 added after 13x, and thus the HLR code became four-digit long to expand the capacity of the seriously fully crowded numbering plan.

In 2006, 15x numbers were introduced. In late 2008, 18x and 14x (for data plans or IoT) were introduced. In late 2013, 17x were introduced. In 2017, 16x and 19x were introduced.

In December 2016, each cell phone number was required to be consigned to a real name in mainland China.^{[citation needed]}

In November 2010, MIIT has started the trial mobile number portability service in Tianjin and Hainan, in 2012 the trial has extended to Jiangxi, Hubei and Yunan provinces. On 10 November 2019, all provinces started accepting MNP requests for all mobile carriers, except for technical difficulties, the MVNO phones, satellite phones and IoT phones.

As of 2016, all carriers are releasing USIM cards.

Mobile service carriers can be identified by the first three or four digits as follows:

1. China Unicom before 2009
2. Operated by China Transport Telecommunication Information Group Co., Ltd.
3. TD-SCDMA networks deprecated by China Mobile in 2020
4. China Unicom finalize deprecated the GSM networks in 2021. A plan to deprecate GSM by China Mobile announced in 2023, scheduled to shut down in 2025^[1][2]
5. CDMA2000 1x Ev-Do networks deprecated in 2022,^[1] and CDMA2000 1x RTT in 2024^[3]
6. LTE compatibility of China Broadnet SIM cards only available on Apple iOS devices
7. WCDMA networks are being deprecated by China Unicom since 2023

1G TACS networks were provided by China Telecom since 1987, operations transferred to China Mobile in 1999, the year China Mobile established, 1G shut down in 2001.

To call phone numbers in China one of the following formats is used:

• For fixed phones:

xxx xxxx | xxxx xxxx Calls within the same area code

0yyy xxx xxxx | 0yyy xxxx xxxx Calls from other areas within China

+86 yyy xxx xxxx | +86 yyy xxxx xxxx Calls from outside China

• For mobile phones:

1nn xxxx xxxx Calls to mobile phones within China

+86 1nn xxxx xxxx Calls to mobiles from outside China

The prefix one is used exclusively by the national capital, Beijing Municipality.

• Beijing – 10 (formerly 1, abolished after GSM was introduced, to avoid conflict with mobile phone numbers with prefix 0 added (e.g. 0139-xxxx-xxxx))

These are area codes for the municipalitiesofShanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing, as well as several major cities with early access to telephones. These cities have upgraded to an 8-number system in the past decade^[when?]. All telephone numbers are 8-digit in these areas.

• Guangzhou – 20
• Shanghai – 21
• Tianjin – 22
• Chongqing – 23 ¹
• Shenyang, Tieling, Fushun, Benxi – 24 ²
• Nanjing – 25
• Wuhan, Huarong DistrictofEzhou – 27
• Chengdu, Meishan, Ziyang – 28 ³
• Xi'an, Xianyang – 29 ⁴

1 - Formerly 811 in urban area and 814 in Yongchuan, both abolished in 9 August 1997; 819 for Wanxian and 810 for Fuling and Qianjiang, abolished in 28 November 1998.
2 - Formerly 410 for Tieling and 413 for Fushun, abolished in 28 August 2011;^[4] 414 for Benxi, abolished in 24 May 2014.
3 - Formerly 832, 833, abolished 2010.^[5]
4 - Formerly 910, abolished 2006.^[6]

It's still unclear whether 26 will be provided or not, some local materials say that it's reserved for Taiwan (especially its capital Taipei), but currently they use +886.^[7] Some proposals from planned independent cities (Chinese: 计划单列市) to get rights to operate 026 were also unsuccessful.^[8][9]

These are area codes for the provincesofHebei, Shanxi and Henan.

Tangshan
315

Qinhuangdao
335

Handan
310

Xingtai
319

Baoding
312

Zhangjiakou
313

Chengde
314

Cangzhou
317

Langfang
316

Hengshui
318

Datong
352

Yangquan
353

Changzhi
355

Jincheng
356

Shuozhou
349

Jinzhong
354

Yuncheng
359

Xinzhou
350

Linfen
357

Lüliang
358

Kaifeng
371¹
(8-digit)

Luoyang
379
(8-digit)

Pingdingshan
375

Anyang
372

Hebi
392

Xinxiang
373

Jiaozuo
391

Puyang
393

Xuchang
374

Luohe
395

Sanmenxia
398

Nanyang
377
(8-digit)

Shangqiu
370

Xinyang
376²

Zhoukou
394

Zhumadian
396

Jiyuan
391

_{1 - Formerly 378, abolished in 26 October 2013.
2 - Formerly 397 for 7 east counties, abolished in 20 October 2005.}

These are area codes for the autonomous regionofInner Mongolia, and the provincesinNortheast China (Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang). Additionally, numbers starting 400 are shared-pay (callers are charged local rate anywhere in the country) numbers ^{[citation needed]}.

Dalian
411
(8-digit)

Anshan
412

Fushun
24
(8-digit)

Benxi
24
(8-digit)

Dandong
415

Jinzhou
416

Yingkou
417

Fuxin
418

Liaoyang
419

Panjin
427

Tieling
24
(8-digit)

Chaoyang
421

Huludao
429

Jilin
432
(8-digit)

Siping
434

Liaoyuan
437

Tonghua
435³

Baishan
439

Songyuan
438

Baicheng
436

Yanbian
433²

_{1 - except Gongzhuling which still uses 434 of Siping}

_{2 - Hunchun formerly 440, abolished in 16 September 2006
3 - Meihekou, Liuhe, Huinan formerly 448, abolished in 16 September 2006}

Qiqihar
452

Jixi
467

Hegang
468

Shuangyashan
469

Daqing
459

Yichun
458

Jiamusi
454

Qitaihe
464

Mudanjiang
453

Heihe
456

Suihua
455

Daxing'anling
Prefecture
457²

_{1 -Acheng formerly 450, abolished.
2 - Includes Jiagedaqi and Songling, where considered part of Inner Mongolia by de jure}

Baotou
472

Wuhai
473

Chifeng
476

Tongliao
475

Ordos
477

Hulunbuir
470 ¹

Bayannur
478

Ulanqab
474

Hinggan
League
482

Xilingol
League
479

Alxa
League
483

_{1 - Jiagedaqi and Songling are de facto under the administration of the Daxing'anling
Prefecture, uses 457.}

These are area codes for the provincesofJiangsu, Shandong (predominantly), Anhui, Zhejiang and Fujian.

All telephone numbers are 8-digit in Jiangsu.

Wuxi
510

Xuzhou
516

Changzhou
519

Suzhou
512¹

Nantong
513

Lianyungang
518

Huai'an
517

Yancheng
515

Yangzhou
514

Zhenjiang
511

Taizhou
523

Suqian
527

_{1 - Changshu, Kunshan, Taicang, Wujiang and Zhangjiagang are formerly 520, abolished in 20 April 2002.}

Qingdao
532
(8-digit)

Zibo
533

Zaozhuang
632

Dongying
546

Yantai
535

Weifang
536

Jining
537

Tai'an
538

Weihai
631

Rizhao
633

Linyi
539

Dezhou
534

Liaocheng
635

Binzhou
543

Heze
530

Wuhu¹
553

Bengbu
552

Huainan
554

Ma'anshan¹
555

Huaibei
561

Tongling
562

Anqing
556

Huangshan
559

Chuzhou
550

Fuyang
558

Suzhou
557

Lu'an
564

Bozhou
558²

Chizhou
566

Xuancheng
563

_{1 - Formerly 565 for Chaohu prefectural city era (i.e. before 2011), later splitted as: Hefei's 551 for Juchao district (now county-level Chaohu) and Lujiang county, Wuhu's 553 for Wuwei and Shenxiang Town of He county (now part of Jiujiang district), and Ma'anshan's 555 for He county (except Shenxiang) and Hanshan county.
2 - Split from Fuyang in 2000, no new area code allocated.}

Ningbo
574
(8-digit)

Wenzhou
577
(8-digit)

Jiaxing
573
(8-digit)

Huzhou
572

Shaoxing
575
(8-digit)

Jinhua
579
(8-digit)

Quzhou
570

Zhoushan
580

Taizhou
576
(8-digit)

Lishui
578

Xiamen
592

Putian
594 ¹

Sanming
598

Quanzhou
595
(8-digit) ¹

Zhangzhou
596 ¹

Nanping
599

Longyan
597

Ningde
593

_{1 - Kinmen, Matsu, and Wuchiu are under Taiwanese control, and hence use international calling code of +886.}

All area codes with prefix 6 were assigned in recent years. This prefix (+866) previously was reserved for Taiwan, which is now assigned (+886).^[10]

While most areas in Shandong use the prefix 53x 54x, some sites also use the prefix 6.

• Weihai – 631
• Zaozhuang – 632
• Rizhao – 633
• Liaocheng – 635

Laiwu was using 634, now merged to Jinan's 531, former numbers are re-prefixxed as 5317 when merging.

While most areas in Guangdong use the prefix 75x and 76x, some sites also use the prefix 6. The provincial capital Guangzhou uses code 20.

• Shanwei – 660
• Yangjiang – 662^[11]
• Jieyang – 663
• Maoming – 668

Chaoyang county-level city was using 661, now changed to 754 after splitted to Chaoyang and Chaonan districts and join Shantou.

While most areas in Yunnan use the prefix 87x and 88x, a couple of areas also use the prefix 6.

• Xishuangbanna – 691
• Dehong – 692

These are area codes for the central provincesofHubei, Hunan, Guangdong (predominantly), Jiangxi, and the autonomous regionofGuangxi.

Huangshi
714

Shiyan
719

Yichang
717

Xiangyang
710

Ezhou²⁰
711

Jingmen
724

Xiaogan
712

Jingzhou
716

Huanggang
713

Xianning
715

Suizhou
722

Enshi
718

Xiantao
728

Qianjiang
728

Tianmen
728

Shennongjia
719

_{20 - except Huarong district which uses Wuhan's 27.}

Zhuzhou
731
(8-digit) ²¹

Xiangtan
731
(8-digit) ²²

Hengyang
734

Shaoyang
739

Yueyang
730

Changde
736

Zhangjiajie
744

Yiyang
737

Chenzhou
735

Yongzhou
746

Huaihua
745

Loudi
738

Xiangxi
743

_{21 - Formerly 733, abolished.
22 - Formerly 732, abolished.}

Shaoguan
751

Shenzhen
755 (8-digit)

Zhuhai
756

Shantou
754
(8-digit)

Foshan
757
²³(8-digit)

Jiangmen
750

Zhanjiang
759

Maoming
668

Zhaoqing
758

Huizhou
752

Meizhou
753

Shanwei
660

Heyuan
762

Yangjiang
662

Qingyuan
763

Dongguan
769 (8-digit)

Zhongshan
760 (8-digit)

Chaozhou
768

Jieyang
663

Yunfu
766

↑

 
Macau
+853

 
Hong Kong
+852

_{23 - Shunde formerly 765, abolished.}

Liuzhou
772

Guilin
773

Wuzhou
774

Beihai
779

Fangchenggang
770

Qinzhou
777

Guigang
775

Yulin
775 ²⁶

Baise
776

Hezhou
774 ²⁴

Hechi
778

Laibin
772 ²⁵

Chongzuo
771 ²⁷

_{24 - Split from Wuzhou Prefecture, original area code inherited.
25 - Split from Liuzhou Prefecture, original area code inherited.
26 - Split from Yulin Prefecture, original area code inherited.
27 - Split from Nanning Prefecture, original area code inherited.}

Jingdezhen
798

Pingxiang
799

Jiujiang
792

Xinyu
790

Yingtan
701

Ganzhou
797

Ji'an
796

Yichun
795

Fuzhou
794

Shangrao
793

These are area codes for the provincesofSichuan, Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan (predominantly) and the autonomous region of Tibet.

Zigong
813

Panzhihua
812

Luzhou
830

Deyang
838

Mianyang
816

Guangyuan
839

Suining
825

Neijiang
832

Leshan
833

Nanchong
817

Meishan
28
(8-digit)

Yibin
831

Guang'an
826

Dazhou
818

Ya'an
835

Bazhong
827

Ziyang
28 (8-digit)

Ngawa (Aba)
837

Garzê (Ganzi)
836

Liangshan
834

Liupanshui
858

Zunyi
851
(8-digit) ²⁸

Anshun
851
(8-digit) ²⁸

Bijie
857

Tongren
856

Qianxinan
859

Qiandongnan
855

Qiannan
854

_{28 - Formerly 852, 853, abolished 2014.}^[12]

Qujing
874

Yuxi
877

Baoshan
875

Zhaotong
870

Lijiang
888

Pu'er
879³⁰

Lincang
883

Chuxiong
878

Honghe
873

Wenshan
876

Xishuangbanna
691

Dali
872

Dehong
692

Nujiang
886

Dêqên (Diqing)
887

_{29 - Dongchuan formerly 881, incorporated into 871
30 - also de facto used by Wa Stateof  Myanmar}

Shigatse / Xigazê
892

Chamdo / Qamdo
895

Nyingchi
894

Shannan / Lhoka
893

Nagqu
896

Ngari
897

☐ Disputed areas claimed or controlled by
  China,   Indiaor  Bhutan.

All telephone numbers are 8-digit in Hainan.

_{Formerly (most likely before 2000), Sanya, Wuzhishan, Lingshui, Ledong, Baoting and Qiongzhong were 899, Danzhou, Dongfang, Lingao, Baisha and Changjiang were 890.}

These are area codes for northwestern regions including the provincesofShaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai, as well as the autonomous regionsofNingxia and Xinjiang.

Tongchuan
919

Baoji
917

Xianyang
29
(8-digit)

Weinan
913

Yan'an
911

Hanzhong
916

Yulin
912

Ankang
915

Shangluo
914

↑

↑

↑

↑

↑

Jiayuguan
937 ³¹

Jinchang
935

Baiyin
943

Tianshui
938

Wuwei
935

Zhangye
936

Pingliang
933

Jiuquan
937

Qingyang
934

Dingxi
932

Longnan
939

Linxia
930

Gannan
941

_{31 - Shared area code due to small size.}

Shizuishan
952

Wuzhong
953

Guyuan
954

Zhongwei
955

Haidong
972

Haibei
970

Huangnan
973

Hainan
974

Guoluo (Golog)
975

Yushu
976

Haixi
977, 979 ³²

(Haixi)
979

_{32 - Area under the administration of Golmud uses 979, other landlines within the prefecture use 977.}

Kuitun
992

Shihezi
993

Changji
994

Turpan
995

Bayingolin
996

Aksu
997

Kashgar
998

rest of Ili
999

Karamay³³
990

Tacheng^33,34
901

Hami
902

Hotan
903

Altay
906

Kizilsu
908

Bortala
909

_{33 - except Wusu and Dushanzi District which use Kuytun's 992.
34 - except Shawan county which uses Shihezi's 993, and Hoboksar county which uses Karamay's 990.}

From within Mainland China, the following emergency numbers are used:

• 110 – Police (12110 for SMS to police, not for calling, 95110 for maritime policies^{[note 1]}, 96110 to report frauds)
• 119 – Fire brigade (12119 for forest fire in some regions)
• 120 – Ambulance
• 122 – Traffic accident (incorporated into 110 in some cities) (12122 on expressways)
• 999 – Privately operated ambulance (Beijing ONLY, calls outside Beijing is 010-999)

In most cities, the emergency numbers assist in Mandarin Chinese and English.

Starting from 2012 in Shenzhen, an implemented system upgrade to unify three emergency reporting services into one number, 110. A similar approach is being installed in more cities in China to make them more convenient.

Dialing 112, 911, and 999 (outside Beijing without area code 010) plays a recording message about the correct emergency numbers in Chinese and English twice: "For police, dial 110. To report a fire, dial 119. For ambulance, dial 120. To report a traffic accident, dial 122." on China Mobile and China Unicom phones, NO SERVICES will be redirected. The error messages "Number does not exist" will be played on China Telecom phones, and NO SERVICES will be redirected. However, some local report said that in sometimes, only within Beijing, China Unicom landlines and mobile phones call 010-112 may be successful as reporting service for call failures.

From within Mainland China, the following special numbers are used:

• 100xx – Telecommunications Customer Service
  • 10000 for China Telecom, formerly 1000
  • 10010 for China Unicom, 10015 for auditing CU's services, formerly 1001
  • 10020-10049 for VNOs
  • 10086 for China Mobile (formerly 1860), 10050 for Tietong, 10080 for auditing CM's services, 1008611 for directly checking phone bills
  • 10096 for China Tower
  • 10099 for China Broadnet
• 106 – SMS access code
• 11185 – Post (11183 for their EMS)
• 114 – Directory assistance, operate by China Unicom for the northern 10 provinces, and China Telecom for the southern 21 provinces, China Unicom also operates 116114, and China Telecom 118114 that the operations are same as 114
• 116xxx – Premium service of China Unicom (e.g. 116114)
• 118xxx – Premium service of China Telecom (e.g. 118114)
• 12114 – SMS name and address standard trial platform, not for calling
• 12117 – Speaking clock
• 12121 – Weather
• 12123 – Traffic police services
• 123xx – Government service, 12345 is the general number for all services below, that may be transited by 12345 operators upon kind of requests:

• 124x – Carrier Identification Code (formerly 190/196/197, abolished in 2018, to create space for mobile phone numbers.)
• 125xx – Premium service of China Mobile (e.g. 12580 for China Mobile's Directory assistance)
• 179xx + target number followed – VoIP (e.g. 17901-133-0000-0000, 1790 for China Telecom, 1791 for China Unicom, and 1795 for China Mobile)
• 400 xxx xxxx, 800 xxx xxxx – business numbers
  • Differences: bills for 400 numbers are paid by both originating and terminating callers, and support calling from both landlines and mobile phones (usually 400-1/7 operate by China Mobile, 400-0/6 operate by China Unicom, 400-8/9 operate by China Telecom); bills for 800 numbers are just paid by terminating callers, but for non-landline users, mostly only China Telecom mobile phones may call 800 phones, because nearly all 800 phones are operated by China Telecom
  • 400-881-0000 for auditing China Telecom's services
• 95xxx, 95xxxx, 95105xxx- Service number (nationally)
• 955xx – Bank, Insurance, Airlines service hotline, (nationally, ex. 95588 – Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) )
• 96xxx, 96xxxx – Service number (locally, area code needed for calls from other provinces or autonomous region or province-level municipality.)

(ex. 962288 in Shanghai – Shanghai foreigner assistant hotline, outside Shanghai people should dial 021-962288, or they will receive an error message or undesired service message)

• 20x (mainly 200 and 201) – was used for IC telephone service, to be reserved for mobile phones

The international access code from the PRC is 00. This must also be used for calls to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau from the Chinese mainland, together with their separate international codes, as follows:

• Telecommunications in China
• Telephone numbers in Hong Kong
• Telephone numbers in Macau
• Toll-free telephone number, China

• "ITU allocations list". ITU-T. Archived from the original on 2009-08-02.

• "Chinese Mobile Phone Directory" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2012-10-24.