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