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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.


Calling a mobile phone from a landline requires the addition of the "0" in front of the mobile phone number if they are not in the same area. Mobile to landline calls requires the "0" and the area code if the landline is not within the same place. Mobile to mobile calls does not require the "0" outside mainland China.


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.

For fixed phones:

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


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


1nn xxxx xxxx Calls to mobile phones within China


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

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

Beijing

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

– 20

Guangzhou

– 21

Shanghai

– 22

Tianjin

– 23 1

Chongqing

Tieling, Fushun, Benxi – 24 2

Shenyang

– 25

Nanjing

Huarong District of Ezhou – 27

Wuhan

Meishan, Ziyang – 28 3

Chengdu

Xianyang – 29 4

Xi'an

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 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]

– 631

Weihai

– 632

Zaozhuang

– 633

Rizhao

– 635

Liaocheng

110 – (12110 for SMS to police, not for calling, 95110 for maritime policies[note 1], 96110 to report frauds)

Police

119 – (12119 for forest fire in some regions)

Fire brigade

120

Ambulance

122 – (incorporated into 110 in some cities) (12122 on expressways)

Traffic accident

999 – Privately operated ambulance ( ONLY, calls outside Beijing is 010-999)

Beijing

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


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.

100xx

China Telecom

106 – access code

SMS

11185 – (11183 for their EMS)

Post

114 – , 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

Directory assistance

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:

Telecommunications in China

Telephone numbers in Hong Kong

Telephone numbers in Macau

Toll-free telephone number, China

. ITU-T. Archived from the original on 2009-08-02.

"ITU allocations list"

(in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2012-10-24.

"Chinese Mobile Phone Directory"