Telephone numbers in China explained

Shanxi – 34x 35x

Henan – 37x 39x

_{1 - Formerly 378, abolished in 26 October 2013.
2 - Formerly 397 for 7 east counties, abolished in 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 (Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang). Additionally, numbers starting 400 are shared-pay (callers are charged local rate anywhere in the country) numbers .

Jilin – 43x 44x

_{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}

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 (predominantly), 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 in 20 April 2002.}

Anhui – 55x 56x

_{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.}

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 (+866) previously was reserved for Taiwan, which is now assigned (+886).^[13]

Shandong – 63x

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.

Guangdong – 66x

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^[14]
• 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.

Yunnan – 69x

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

• Xishuangbanna – 691
• Dehong – 692

Area 7 – Central-Southern China Operating Center

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

Guizhou – 85x 86x

_{28 - Formerly 852, 853, abolished 2014.}^[15]

Yunnan – 87x 88x

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

Hainan – 898

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.}

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.

Gansu – 93x 94x

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

Qinghai – 97x 98x

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

Xinjiang – 99x 90x

_{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.}

Emergency numbers

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

• 110 – Police (12110 for SMS to police, not for calling, 95110 for maritime policies, 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.

Others

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:

12303 – proposals
12305 – SPB post appeals
12306 – railway services
(10-)12308 – MFA Consular assistance
12309 – SPP reports
12310 – CIOC reports
12313 – tobacco reports
12314 – water reports
12315 – consumer reports
12316 – agricultural services
(10-)12317 – poverty helps
12318 – cultural reports
12319 – urban development services
12320 – health services
12321 – MIIT Internet disinfos and spam reports
12323 – MNR maritime report
12325 – food audit
12326 – CAAC audit
12328 – transportation illegal reports
12329 – housing fund services
12333 – MHRSS services
(10-)12335 – MoC Multinational corporation reports
12337 – CPLAC anti-blacks
12338 – women helps
12339 – MSS reports
12340 – statistics
12348 – MoJ legal services and aids
12350 – MEM safety reports
12351 – ACFTU workers' helps
12355 – CYL Adolescence services
12360 – custom services
12361 – PDCCP Xuexi Qiangguo
12363 – PBC financial reports
12366 – tax services
12367 – immigration services
12368 – court services
12369 – environment reports
(10-)12370 – MHRSS Civil services
12371 – ODCCP community member consult
12377 – CAC Internet illegal and disinfo reports
12378 – CBIRC reports
(10-)12379 – MEM emergency situation info release
12380 – ODCCP reports
12381 – MIIT public services
12385 – disabled services
12386 – CSRC Investor services
12388 – CCDI and NSC reports
12389 – MPS reports
12390 – anti-pornography, illegal and copyvio publishing reports
12393 – NHSA services
12395 – MSA Shipwrecking helps
12398 – energy audits

• 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)

Former

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

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:

See also

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

References

• Web site: ITU allocations list . ITU-T . https://web.archive.org/web/20090802023319/http://www.itu.int/oth/T020200002B/en . 2009-08-02 . live .

External links

• Web site: Chinese Mobile Phone Directory . zh . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121024172257/http://china.mobilephoneno.com/ . 2012-10-24 .

Notes and References

1. News: 工信部：已实现全部电话用户实名登记 . 新华社 . 2017-01-18 . 2017-01-18 . 2019-02-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190219211812/http://tech.qq.com/a/20170118/031020.htm?utm_medium=referral .
2. News: "携号转网"正式启动，工信部点名"百年套餐"等障碍. 第一财经. 2019-11-27. zh-cn. 2019-11-29. 2020-11-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20201104152246/https://www.yicai.com/news/100417060.html.
3. Web site: 携号转网新规正式施行！权威解答来了！ . 澎湃新闻 . 2019-12-10 . 2019-12-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191210045127/https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_5144788 .
4. Web site: 29 September 2022 . 中国电信提出要加快2G/3G退网 原计划2024年底完成但貌似还要提前 . zh.
5. Web site: 2023-09-17 . 中国移动2G网络退网公告：全面升级4G/5G，提升用户体验 .
6. Web site: 中国电信800M黄金频率再获1M频段，CDMA准备退网 - 中国电信,CDMA,800M频率,4G - IT之家 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190407062805/https://www.ithome.com/0/410/032.htm . 2019-04-07 . 2019-04-07 . www.ithome.com . dead.
7. Web site: 沈阳、抚顺、铁岭正式开始共用"024"长途区号-搜狐新闻.
8. Web site: 成都眉山资阳三地将共用长途区号028_新闻中心_新浪网.
9. Web site: 西安咸阳今夜电话同区号-搜狐新闻.
10. Web site: 中国的区号为什么缺026?_话题广场_评论频道_腾讯网 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140521204959/http://view.news.qq.com/a/20071019/000025.htm . 2014-05-21 . 2018-07-13 . Tencent News .
11. Web site: 区号026争夺与台北猜想 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071022051230/http://view.news.qq.com/zt/2007/026/index.htm . 2007-10-22 . 2009-01-27 . Tencent News.
12. Web site: 026区号之争民间热议官方低调 长株潭并未申报 . 2022-09-05 . 2009-01-14 . Sohu News.
13. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2010/10/05/2003484569/1 The story of Taiwan's calling code
14. http://www.yangjiang.gov.cn/english/Tourism/Nanhai/201203/t20120314_65819.html Nanhai No. 1 & Guangdong Maritime Silk Road Museum
15. Web site: 贵阳遵义安顺实现通信同城化 共享区号0851.
16. https://books.google.com/books?id=hUb_BQNkXdQC&dq=%2200886%22+taipei&pg=PA519 China Vista
17. https://books.google.com/books?id=GpqzAAAAIAAJ&q=%2200852%22+hong+kong+-ibp China International Business: The Monthly Publication of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, P.R.C
18. https://books.google.com/books?id=N3pKAQAAIAAJ&q=%2200853%22++ China Law