Telephone numbers in China

In mainland China, mobile phone numbers have 11 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 9, and had the same numbering format with fixed-line telephones. Those numbers were eventually translated into 1390xx9xxx, where xx were local identifiers.[1]

The oldest China Mobile GSM numbers were 10-digit 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 131 in 1998. Keeping the same number over time is somewhat associated with stability and reliability of the owner. The 5th to 7th digit sometimes relates to age and location.

As the 4th digit was introduced in July 22, 1999, China's mobile phone numbers upgraded from 10-digit to 11-digit, with 0 added after 13x, and thus HLR code became 4-digit long, to expand the capacity of the seriously fully crowded numbering plan.

In 2006, 15x numbers were introduced.[2] 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 is required to be consigned to a real name in mainland China.

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

1 - China Unicom before 2009

2 - Operated by China Transport Telecommunication & Information Center

To call in China, the following format 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 1 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 municipalities of Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing, as well as several major cities with early access to telephones. All of these cities have upgraded to an 8-number system in the past decade. The People's Republic of China reserves code 26 for Taipei, capital of Taiwan.

All telephone numbers are 8-digit in these areas.

• Guangzhou - 20
• Shanghai – 21
• Tianjin – 22
• Chongqing – 23 (formerly 811, 814, 819, 810, 829, all abolished in 1997)
• Shenyang, Tieling, Fushun, Benxi – 24
• Nanjing – 25
• Proposed use: Taipei – 26
• Wuhan – 27
• Chengdu, Meishan, Ziyang – 28
• Xi'an, Xianyang – 29

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

These are area codes for the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, and the provinces in Northeast China (Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang). Additionally, numbers starting 400 are shared-pay (callers are charged local rate anywhere in the country) numbers .

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

All area codes with prefix 6 were assigned in recent years. This prefix (+866) previously was reserved for Taiwan, which is now assigned (+886).[3]

These are area codes for the central provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong (predominantly), Jiangxi, and the autonomous region of Guangxi.

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

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.

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

• 110 - Police (12110 for text to police)
• 119 - Fire brigade (12119 for forest fire in some regions)
• 120 - Ambulance
• 122 - Traffic accident (incorporated into 110 in some cities) (12122 on highway)
• 999 - Privately operated ambulance (Beijing ONLY, calls outside Beijing is 010-999)

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

Starting from 2012 in Shenzhen, a system upgrade was put in place to unify three emergency reporting services into one number, 110. This similar system 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. On China Telecom phones, error messages "Number does not exist" will be played, NO SERVICES will be redirected.

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

• 100xx - Telecommunications Customer Service (10000 for China Telecom, 10010 for China Unicom, 10086 for China Mobile, 10020-10049 for VNOs)
• 101xx and 116xxx - Premium service of China Unicom
• 1010 xxxx - Special number by China Unicom
• 11185 - Post
• 114 - Directory assistance
• 118xxx - Premium service of China Telecom (e.g. 118114)
• 12117 - Speaking clock
• 12121 - Weather
• 12122 - Highway service
• 123xx - Government service (e.g. 12388 - Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and Ministry of Supervision, 12306 - China Railway, 12355 - Help Hotline For Children and Youth)
• 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)
• 160xxxxx, 168xxxxx - Telephone information service
• 179xx + target number followed - VoIP (e.g. 17901-133-0000-0000)
• 200, 201 - IC telephone service
• 400 xxx xxxx, 800 xxx xxxx - business numbers
• 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, calls outside Shanghai is 021-962288, or error message will be played or undesired service will be reached)

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.

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