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China country code +86 — call China & get a number.
A continent-sized country on a single clock and over 1.7 billion SIM cards — calling China is its own kind of scale. Here's +86 sorted: precise formats from the US, UK and Asia-Pacific, the city area codes, today's mobile prefixes, live time & weather, and how MCM gives your business a Chinese number.
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China at a glance
The numbers and facts you need before you dial.
What is the country code for China?
Mainland China answers on +86 — dial it after your local exit code and you'll reach any landline or mobile from Harbin to Hainan. One catch worth burning into memory: Hong Kong (+852) and Macau (+853) run entirely separate numbering plans and are never reached through +86, even though they're part of China.
Code +86 was assigned to China by the ITU under the E.164 plan. The “+” means “dial your local international exit code”; on a mobile, press and hold 0 to type it.
All four mean the same thing — they connect your call to China.
How to call China from anywhere
The pattern holds across the whole country: your exit code, then 86, then either a city area code stripped of its leading 0 (for landlines) or the full 11-digit mobile number, which carries no area code at all.
Full example: +86 10 XXX XXXX — drop the local leading 0 when calling from abroad.
China phone number format explained
There's a clean split in China's plan. Big cities get short 2-digit area codes (Beijing 10, Shanghai 21), smaller cities get 3-digit ones (Shenzhen 755), each followed by a 7- or 8-digit local number. Mobiles ignore geography entirely: always 11 digits, always opening with 1, never carrying an area code.
Landline
*
Mobile
*
China area codes — major cities
Drop the local leading 0 when calling from abroad.
| City | Region | Area code |
|---|---|---|
| Beijing | Beijing Municipality | 10 |
| Shanghai | Shanghai Municipality | 21 |
| Guangzhou | Guangdong | 20 |
| Shenzhen | Guangdong | 755 |
| Tianjin | Tianjin Municipality | 22 |
| Chongqing | Chongqing Municipality | 23 |
| Chengdu | Sichuan | 28 |
| Wuhan | Hubei | 27 |
| Nanjing | Jiangsu | 25 |
| Xi'an | Shaanxi | 29 |
| Hangzhou | Zhejiang | 571 |
| Shenyang | Liaoning | 24 |
China mobile network prefixes
The prefix after +86 tells you which network issued the SIM — though number portability means it no longer guarantees the operator.
China Mobile
prefixes include 134–139, 147, 150–152, 157–159, 178, 182–184, 187–188, 195, 197–198. The world's largest mobile operator by subscribers.
China Unicom
prefixes include 130–132, 145, 155–156, 166, 175–176, 185–186, 196.
China Telecom
prefixes include 133, 149, 153, 173, 177, 180–181, 189, 191, 193, 199.
China Broadnet
prefix 192 (newest national operator).
China time zone
Here's a genuine quirk of scale: China stretches across five geographic time zones, yet the entire mainland runs on just one — China Standard Time (CST), UTC+8, with no daylight saving. So when Beijing reads noon, so does Kashgar 3,000 km west, where the sun is barely up. One clock, no exceptions — which actually makes scheduling refreshingly simple.
** Because the whole country shares CST, you only ever target one window. For a China business day (09:00–18:00 CST), call from the US West Coast in the evening (17:00–18:00 PT lands in Beijing's morning) or from the UK in the early hours (01:00–10:00 GMT).
Open the interactive best-time-to-call plannerEmergency numbers in China
Free to call from any China phone, landline or mobile.
Common mistakes when calling China
Almost every failed international call is a formatting issue, not a network issue.
Dialing +86 for a Hong Kong or Macau number
the single most common error with "China." Those territories sit on +852 and +853, on their own plans and billing; +86 will never reach them.
**Keeping the leading 0** on a landline area code from abroad
drop the trunk 0 (+86 10, not +86 010).
Bolting an area code onto a mobile
Chinese mobiles are non-geographic, so a city code in front of an 11-digit mobile breaks the call.
Counting wrong
mobiles are exactly 11 digits; a 10-digit "mobile" is missing one.
Trying 911 or 112
neither is China's emergency line; use 110 (police), 119 (fire) or 120 (ambulance).
Tips to reduce the cost of calling China
**Hold a virtual China DID** so calls bill at in-country rates rather than steep international long-distance.
**Route over VoIP/SIP** to slash the per-minute cost of reaching a market this far away.
Lean on the single time zone
schedule into the one CST overlap window and skip premium daytime tariffs.
**Funnel inbound to one China number** with cloud routing instead of running per-agent international lines.
Why businesses get a China virtual number
In the world's largest mobile market — well over a billion connections — a foreign caller ID is an instant disadvantage. A local +86 number earns trust with Chinese customers and partners while your team stays anywhere on the map.
**Higher answer rates**
**Higher answer rates** — local numbers get picked up far more often than foreign ones.
**Lower trust friction**
**Lower trust friction** — a familiar +86 line signals a genuine local presence.
**Cheaper inbound**
**Cheaper inbound** — customers reach you at local rates, not international ones.
**Centralized routing**
**Centralized routing** — forward China calls to any team, anywhere.
**Faster expansion**
**Faster expansion** — test the China market without a physical office.
**Real PSTN presence**
**Real PSTN presence** — a genuine in-country number, not a relay.
China virtual numbers with My Country Mobile
My Country Mobile provisions carrier-grade China virtual numbers with the routing, voice quality, and security a market this size demands.
Local DIDs in major area codes — provisioned in minutes
Call forwarding to any mobile, landline, SIP endpoint, or softphone worldwide
HD voice with G.711, G.729, Opus & AMR-WB — auto-negotiated per call
Sub-150ms latency on major voice corridors via distributed PoPs
99.99% uptime SLA backed by geo-redundant infrastructure & sub-2s failover
WebRTC support for browser-based calling without softphone installs
REST APIs for provisioning, routing & call detail records (CDRs)
Built-in fraud protection with AI anomaly detection & STIR/SHAKEN
24/7 network monitoring and dedicated support
How to get your China virtual number
Most businesses are live within hours, not days.
**Pick your city** — choose the area-code presence you want (Beijing 10, Shanghai 21, and more).
**Point it somewhere** — tell MCM to route to your SIP trunk, app, or existing PBX.
**Provision via portal or API** — numbers activate in minutes.
**Go live** — start fielding China calls on one CST clock right away.
Other country dialing guides
More country codes worth bookmarking.
Get a China virtual number with MCM
One number, one clock, a billion-plus reachable. Get your China virtual number today.
China +86 — FAQ
Does +86 reach Hong Kong and Macau?expand_more
No — and this trips up a lot of callers. Mainland China is +86, but Hong Kong (+852) and Macau (+853) run separate plans and separate billing, so dial those codes directly.
Why does the whole country share one time zone?expand_more
China spans five geographic zones but keeps the entire mainland on China Standard Time (CST), UTC+8, with no daylight saving — so noon in Beijing is noon everywhere, which makes scheduling a single, predictable window.
Why are some area codes two digits and others three?expand_more
China's plan gives the largest cities short 2-digit codes (Beijing 10, Shanghai 21) and smaller cities 3-digit ones (Shenzhen 755, Hangzhou 571).
How long is a Chinese mobile number?expand_more
Always 11 digits, always starting with 1, with no area code — e.g. 138 0013 8000. A 10-digit "mobile" is incomplete.
Do I drop the leading 0?expand_more
On landlines, yes — strip the trunk 0 from the area code when calling internationally (+86 10, not +86 010). Mobiles have no 0 to drop.
Can I tell the carrier from the prefix?expand_more
It hints at China Mobile, Unicom or Telecom, but nationwide number portability means the original prefix may no longer match the current network.
Can a non-resident business get a +86 number?expand_more
Yes — MCM can provision a China virtual number without local residency, subject to verification.
What are China's emergency numbers?expand_more
110 for police, 119 for fire, 120 for ambulance — not 911 or 112.