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Telephone numbers in China

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Telephone numbers in China
Location
CountryChina
ContinentAsia
RegulatorMIIT
TypeOpen
Access codes
Country code+86
International access00
Long-distance0

Telephone numbers in China are organized according to the Chinese Telephone Code Plan. The numerical formats of landlines and mobile phones are different: landlines have area-codes, whereas mobile phones do not. In major cities, landline-numbers consist of a two-digit area code followed by an eight-digit inner-number. In other places, landline-numbers consist of a three-digit area code followed by a seven- or eight-digit inner-number. The numbers of mobile phones consist of eleven digits.

When one landline is used to dial another landline within the same area, it is not necessary to specify the area-code. Between different areas, the target-number must be prepended with the trunk-prefix, which is 0.

Calling a mobile phone from a land line requires the addition of the "0" in front of the mobile phone number if they are not in the same area as well. Mobile to land line calls require the "0" and the area code, if the land line is not within the same area. Mobile to mobile calls do not require the "0". The "0" is not dialled from outside mainland China.

The Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau are not part of this numbering plan, and use the country codes +852 and +853, respectively.

In addition, the PRC numbering plan once reserved space for Taiwan, but have dropped this practice.

Mobile phones

2016 December in mainland China have excuted real name to each cell phone number.

In mainland China, mobile phone numbers have 11 digits in the format 1xx-xxxx-xxxx, in which the first three digits (e.g. 13x, 14x,15x,17x and 18x) designate the mobile phone service provider.

As new numbers were introduced over time, it is possible to recognize the age of a number: The oldest GSM numbers start with 1390…, the second oldest 1380… and 1300… Keeping the same number over time is somewhat associated with stability and reliability of the owner. As the fourth digit was introduced later, thus it is 0 for all old numbers. In further extensions, non-139,138,130 numbers were introduced. The fifth to seventh digit sometimes relates to age and location.

Even earlier, before GSM, mobile phones had numbers starting with 9. Those numbers were eventually translated into 1390xx9…, where xx were local identifiers.

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

Prefix Provider Network
130/1/2 China Unicom LTE/WCDMA/GSM
133 China Telecom1 LTE/CDMA2000/cdmaOne
1340–1348 China Mobile LTE/TD-SCDMA/GSM
1349 Chinasat Satellite
135/6/7/8/9 China Mobile LTE/TD-SCDMA/GSM
1440X China Mobile LTE/TD-SCDMA/GSM (IoT only)
145 China Unicom LTE/WCDMA (formerly Data-plans only)
147 China Mobile LTE/TD-SCDMA (formerly Data-plans only)
148XX China Mobile LTE/TD-SCDMA/GSM (IoT only)
150/1/2/7/8/9 China Mobile LTE/TD-SCDMA/GSM
153 China Telecom1 LTE/CDMA2000/cdmaOne
155/6 China Unicom LTE/WCDMA/GSM
166 China Unicom LTE/WCDMA/GSM
167 China Unicom2 LTE/WCDMA/GSM
1700/1/2 China Telecom2 LTE/CDMA2000/cdmaOne
1703/5/6 China Mobile2 LTE/TD-SCDMA/GSM
1704/7/8/9 China Unicom2 LTE/WCDMA/GSM
171 China Unicom2 LTE/WCDMA/GSM
173/7 China Telecom LTE/CDMA2000/cdmaOne
17400-05 Chinasat Satellite
1749 Inmarsat3 Satellite
176 China Unicom LTE/WCDMA/GSM
180/1/9 China Telecom LTE/CDMA2000/cdmaOne
182/3/4/7/8 China Mobile LTE/TD-SCDMA/GSM
185/6 China Unicom LTE/WCDMA/GSM
198 China Mobile LTE/TD-SCDMA/GSM
191/9 China Telecom LTE/CDMA2000/cdmaOne

1 - Formerly China Unicom

2 - Assigned to VNOs

3 - Operated by China Transport Telecommunication & Information Center

Calling formats

To call in China, the following format is used:

  • For fixed phones:

xxx xxxx Calls within the same area code

0yyy xxx xxxx Calls from other areas within China

+86 yyy xxx 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 - Beijing

The prefix 1 is used exclusively by the national capital, Beijing Municipality.

Area 2

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, which it unilaterally claims sovereignty over, but does not actually control.

All telephone numbers are 8-digit in these areas (exclude Taipei).

Area 3

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

Hebei

Shanxi

Henan

Area 4

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.

Liaoning

The provincial capital, Shenyang, and Tieling, Fushun, Benxi, uses code 24.

Jilin

Heilongjiang

Inner Mongolia

Area 5

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

Jiangsu

The provincial capital of Nanjing uses code 25. All telephone numbers are 8-digit in Jiangsu.

Shandong – Area 5

While most areas in Shandong use the prefix 5, some areas also use the prefix 6.

Anhui

Zhejiang

Fujian

Kinmen, Matsu, and Wuchiu are currently under the control of the Republic of China; and are under the international calling code of 886.

Area 6

All area codes with prefix 6 were assigned in recent years. This prefix (+866) previously was reserved for Taiwan, which is now assigned (+886).[1]

Shandong – Area 6

While most areas in Shandong use the prefix 5, some areas also use the prefix 6.

Guangdong – Area 6

While most areas in Guangdong use the prefix 7, some areas also use the prefix 6. The provincial capital Guangzhou uses code 20.

Yunnan – Area 6

While most areas in Yunnan use the prefix 8, a couple of areas also use the prefix 6.

Area 7

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

Hubei

The provincial capital of Wuhan uses code 27.

Hunan

Guangdong – Area 7

Some areas in Guangdong use the prefix 6, while the provincial capital of Guangzhou uses code 20.

Guangxi

Jiangxi

Area 8

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

Sichuan

The provincial capital of Chengdu, and Meishan, Ziyang uses code 28.

Guizhou

Yunnan – Area 8

Some areas in Yunnan use the prefix 6.

Tibet/Xizang

Hainan

  • All areas – 898 (8-digit)

Area 9

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.

Shaanxi

The provincial capital Xi'an uses code 29. Xianyang uses the same code as Xi'an starting from 16 September 2006.[3]

Gansu

Ningxia

Qinghai

Xinjiang

Emergency Numbers

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

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

1. 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.

Others

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

(ex. 962288- Shanghai foreigner assistant hotline, when dialing from other areas within China, dial 021-962288)

International Access Code

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:

Place Prefix
Taiwan 00 886 xxx xxx xxx[4]
Hong Kong 00 852 xxxx xxxx[5]
Macau 00 853 xxxx xxxx[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ The story of Taiwan's calling code, Taipei Times, October 5, 2010
  2. ^ Nanhai No.1 & Guangdong Maritime Silk Road Museum Archived 2016-10-11 at the Wayback Machine, Yangjiang, China
  3. ^ "Document 68168" (in Chinese). Xianyang. 2006-09-16. Archived from the original on 2009-03-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ China Vista, Eugene Law, China Intercontinental Press, 2004, page 519
  5. ^ China International Business: The Monthly Publication of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, P.R.C, Issues 7-12, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, 2002
  6. ^ China Law, Issues 1-6, 2008, page 50