Telephone numbers in China


Telephone numbers in the People's Republic of China are administered according to the Telecommunications Network Numbering Plan of China. The structure of telephone numbers for landlines and mobile service is different. Landline telephone numbers have area codes, whereas mobile numbers do not. In major cities, landline numbers consist of a two-digit area code followed by an eight-digit local number. In other places, landline numbers consist of a three-digit area code followed by a seven- or eight-digit local number. Mobile phone numbers consist of eleven digits.
Landline calls within the same area do not require the area code. Calls to other areas require dialing the trunk prefix 0 and the area code.
The special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau are not part of this numbering plan, and use the calling codes 852 and 853 respectively.

Mobile phones

In mainland China, mobile phone numbers have eleven digits in the format 1xx-XXXX-XXXX, in which the first three digits designate the mobile phone service provider.
Before GSM, mobile phones had 6-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 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.
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.
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
  5. CDMA2000 1x Ev-Do networks deprecated in 2022, and CDMA2000 1x RTT in 2024
  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.

Calling formats

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

Area 1 – Capital Operation Center

The prefix one is used exclusively by the national capital, Beijing Municipality.
  • Beijing – 10

    Area 2 – Country Communication System Operating Center

These are area codes for the municipalities of Shanghai, 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.
All telephone numbers are 8-digit in these areas.
1 - Formerly 811 in urban area and 814 in Yongchuan, both abolished on 9 August 1997; 819 for Wanxian and 810 for Fuling and Qianjiang, abolished on 28 November 1998.
2 - Formerly 410 for Tieling and 413 for Fushun, abolished on 28 August 2011; 414 for Benxi, abolished on 24 May 2014.
3 - Formerly 832, 833, abolished 2010.
4 - Formerly 910, abolished 2006.
It's still unclear whether 26 will be provided or not, some local materials say that it's reserved for Taiwan, but currently they use +886. Some proposals from planned independent cities to get rights to operate 026 were also unsuccessful.

Area 3 – Northern China Operation Center

These are area codes for the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi and Henan.

Hebei – 31x 33x

Shanxi – 34x 35x

Henan – 37x 39x


1 - Formerly 378, abolished on 26 October 2013.
2 - Formerly 397 for 7 east counties, abolished on 20 October 2005.

Area 4 – Northeastern China Operation Center

These are area codes for the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, and the provinces in Northeast China. Additionally, numbers starting 400 are shared-pay numbers.

Liaoning – 41x 42x

Jilin – 43x 44x

1 - Hunchun formerly 440, abolished in 16 September 2006

2 - Meihekou, Liuhe, Huinan formerly 448, abolished on 16 September 2006

Heilongjiang – 45x 46x

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

Inner Mongolia – 47x 48x

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

Area 5 – Eastern China Operating Center

These are area codes for the provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong, Anhui, Zhejiang and Fujian.

Jiangsu – 51x 52x

All telephone numbers are 8-digit in Jiangsu.
1 - Changshu, Kunshan, Taicang, Wujiang and Zhangjiagang are formerly 520, abolished on 20 April 2002.

Shandong – [|53x 54x]

Anhui – 55x 56x

1 - Formerly 565 for Chaohu prefectural city era, later split as: Hefei's 551 for Juchao district and Lujiang county, Wuhu's 553 for Wuwei and Shenxiang Town of He county, and Ma'anshan's 555 for He county and Hanshan county.
2 - Split from Fuyang in 2000, no new area code allocated.

Zhejiang – 57x 58x

Fujian – 59x 50x

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

Area 6 – Supplement for Shandong(63x), Guangdong(66x), Yunnan(69x)

All area codes with prefix 6 were assigned in recent years. This prefix previously was reserved for Taiwan, which is now assigned.

Shandong – 63x

While most areas in Shandong use the prefix 53x 54x, some sites also use the prefix 6.
Laiwu was using 634, now merged to Jinan's 531, former numbers were re-prefixed as 5317 when merging.

Guangdong – 66x

While most areas in Guangdong use the prefixes [|75x and 76x], some sites also use the prefix 6. The provincial capital Guangzhou uses code 20.
Chaoyang county-level city was using 661, now changed to 754 after split to Chaoyang and Chaonan districts and join Shantou.

Yunnan – 69x

While most areas in Yunnan use the [|prefix 87x and 88x], a couple of areas also use the prefix 6.
These are area codes for the central provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Jiangxi, and the autonomous region of Guangxi.

Hubei – 71x 72x

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

Hunan – 73x 74x

21 - Formerly 733, abolished.
22 - Formerly 732, abolished.

Guangdong – 75x 76x

23 - Shunde formerly 765, abolished.

Guangxi – 77x 78x

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.

Jiangxi – 79x 70x

Area 8 -Southwestern China Operating Center

These are area codes for the provinces of Sichuan, Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan and the autonomous region of Tibet.

Sichuan – 81x 82x 83x

Guizhou – 85x 86x

28 - Formerly 852, 853, abolished 2014.

Yunnan – 87x 88x

29 - Dongchuan formerly 881, incorporated into 871
30 - also de facto used by Wa State of

Tibet/Xizang – 89(1–7)

Hainan – 898

All telephone numbers are 8-digit in Hainan.
Formerly, Sanya, Wuzhishan, Lingshui, Ledong, Baoting and Qiongzhong were 899, Danzhou, Dongfang, Lingao, Baisha and Changjiang were 890.

Area 9 – Northwestern China Operating Center

These are area codes for northwestern regions including the provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai, as well as the autonomous regions of Ningxia and Xinjiang.