| Location | |
|---|---|
| Country | China |
| Continent | Asia |
| Access codes | |
| Country calling | +86 |
| International prefix | 00 |
| Trunk prefix | 0 |
| Dial plan | |
| Type | closed |
The Chinese Telephone Code Plan is the way to group telephone numbers of Mainland China. Land lines and mobile phones follow different systems: land lines use area codes, while mobile phones do not.
For land line area codes, a "0" is typically added in front when dialing domestic long distance, but is never added when dialing from outside mainland China. Domestic phone numbers in large cities have 8 digits, and in other areas no less than 7. Mobile phone numbers have 11 digits without area codes.
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. See Hong Kong telephone numbering plan and Macau telephone numbering plan.
In addition, Taiwan and several islands of Fujian are under the control of the Republic of China. The PRC numbering plan reserves space for Taiwan, but they are not currently used. Currently phone numbers in areas under ROC control are under the separate international calling code of 886. See Telephone numbers in Taiwan.
Contents |
In mainland China, mobile phone numbers have 11 digits in the format 1xx-xxxx-xxxx. The first three digits of mobile phone numbers (13x, 15x and 18x) designate the mobile phone service provider and the next four digits is a regional code and the last four digits are assigned by the mobile service provider as part of the customer ID.
As the 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. The fourth digit was introduced later and is 0 for all old numbers. In a further extension, non-139,138,130 numbers were introduced. The fifth to seventh digit again relate to age and location.
Even earlier, before GSM age, 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 | GSM |
| 133 | China Telecom | CDMA |
| 1340-1348 | China Mobile | GSM |
| 1349 | ChinaSat | Satellite |
| 135/6/7/8/9 | China Mobile | GSM |
| 145 | China Unicom | WCDMA (Data-plans only) |
| 147 | China Mobile | TD-SCDMA (Data-plans only) |
| 150 | China Mobile | GSM |
| 151 | China Mobile | GSM |
| 152 | China Mobile | GSM |
| 153 | China Telecom | CDMA |
| 155 | China Unicom | GSM |
| 156 | China Unicom | GSM (upgradeable to WCDMA) |
| 157 | China Mobile | TD-SCDMA |
| 158 | China Mobile | GSM |
| 159 | China Mobile | GSM |
| 180 | China Telecom | CDMA |
| 182 | China Mobile | GSM |
| 185 | China Unicom | WCDMA |
| 186 | China Unicom | WCDMA |
| 187 | China Mobile | GSM |
| 188 | China Mobile | TD-SCDMA |
| 189 | China Telecom | CDMA |
The prefix 1 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 large 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 claims sovereignty over, but does not actually control.
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).
The provincial capital, Shenyang, uses code 24.
These are area codes for the provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong (predominantly), Anhui, Zhejiang and Fujian.
The provincial capital of Nanjing uses code 25.
While most areas in Shandong use the prefix 5, some areas also use the prefix 6.
All area codes with prefix 6 were assigned in recent years. This prefix (+86 6...) was reserved for Taiwan (+886) during the cold war years.
While most areas in Shandong use the prefix 5, some areas also use the prefix 6.
While most areas in Guangdong use the prefix 7, some areas also use the prefix 6. The provincial capital Guangzhou uses code 20.
While most areas in Yunnan use the prefix 8, a couple of areas also use the prefix 6.
These are area codes for the provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong (predominantly), Jiangxi, and the autonomous region of Guangxi.
The provincial capital of Wuhan uses code 27.
Some areas in Guangdong use the prefix 6, while the provincial capital of Guangzhou uses code 20.
These are area codes for the provinces of Sichuan, Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan (predominantly) and the autonomous region of Tibet.
The provincial capital of Chengdu uses code 28.
Some areas in Yunnan use the prefix 6.
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.
The provincial capital of Xi'an uses code 29. Xianyang use same code as Xi'an since Sep. 16 2006[1]
From within Mainland China, the following emergency numbers are used (and mainly in major cities):
In most cities, the emergency numbers provide assistance in Mandarin and English.
(to be completed)
From within Mainland China, the following special numbers are used:
The international access code from the PRC is 00. This must also be used for calls to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao from the Chinese mainland, together with their separate international codes. However, calls are charged at discounted rates. Examples are as follows:
| Place | Prefix |
|---|---|
| Taiwan | 00 886 ... |
| Hong Kong | 00 852 xxxx xxxx |
| Macao SAR | 00 853 xxx xxxx |
| US/Canada | 00 1 xxx xxx xxxx |
| Singapore | 00 65 xxxx xxxx |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||