China phone number format (+86): how to validate Chinese mobile numbers

The China phone number format for mobiles is +86 followed by 11 digits that always start with 1, written +86 13X XXXX XXXX from abroad and 13X XXXX XXXX at home, with no leading 0. Store it in E.164 as +8613XXXXXXXXX. Landlines are different: a 2- or 3-digit area code after the trunk prefix 0 (010 for Beijing), dropped after +86. Mobile numbers can be ported between operators, so the 13X–19X block tells you where the number started, not which network serves it today.

This guide is part of our phone numbers by country series. The tables are generated from libphonenumber's metadata and our public catalog. Example numbers are masked with X. "China" here means mainland China (CN). Hong Kong and Macau have their own numbering plans, covered below.

#What does a Chinese phone number look like?

A mobile number has 11 digits and starts with 1: 13X XXXX XXXX, grouped 3-4-4. Unlike landlines, mobile numbers are written without a trunk prefix, so the national and international forms differ only by +86. Landlines use the trunk prefix 0 and an area code. The largest cities have 2-digit area codes and 8-digit local numbers, such as 010 Beijing, 020 Guangzhou and 021 Shanghai. Elsewhere the area code has 3 digits, such as 0755 for Shenzhen, and the local number 7 or 8 digits (Wikipedia).

From abroad, drop the 0 of a landline: 010 XXXX XXXX becomes +86 10 XXXX XXXX. Forms in China often collect numbers as 13XXXXXXXXX or 8613XXXXXXXXX without a plus; a numbering-plan library with the default region CN turns both into +8613….

#Which prefixes are mobile numbers?

All mobile numbers start with 1, but not every block is in use. For each 2-digit block, the generator counted every 11-digit number that libphonenumber's mobile pattern for CN accepts:

In short: 13X and 18X are fully in use, 15X except 154, 19X except 194. The 14X and 16X blocks are only partly used. In 161, only 1610 is a mobile range. In 174, only 17400 to 17405, opened for China Telecom in 2017 (ITU).

#Which operator does each block belong to?

Each block was allocated to one operator. This table follows libphonenumber's carrier file for +86 (86.txt, read on 2026-10-10 via the Python port 9.0.40) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's (MIIT) notifications to the ITU:

The ITU filings date several of these: 171 for China Unicom's virtual operators from 24 July 2015, 165 for China Mobile's from 1 January 2018, 167 for China Unicom's from 1 November 2018, 162 for China Telecom from 30 September 2018, and 190 and 193 for China Telecom from 10 September 2020 (ITU). The same filings list IoT-only ranges: 11-digit 146 (China Unicom) and 148 (China Mobile), and 13-digit numbers such as 1440, all from 2017. libphonenumber's CN mobile pattern rejects all of them, so a device SIM can fail validation and still be a working number. 1349, which Wikipedia lists as a former satellite range, passes the pattern but has no operator in the carrier file.

Treat the table as the range holder, never as the current network. We explain why below.

#How do I validate a Chinese number in code?

Use a libphonenumber port with full metadata and the default region CN, and check the region it returns. With CN as the default, +852 and +853 numbers still parse, as Hong Kong and Macau numbers.

import { parsePhoneNumberFromString } from "libphonenumber-js/max";

/** "13X XXXX XXXX", "+86 13X …", "0086 13X …", "8613X…" → E.164 for a mainland China mobile, or null. */
export function normalizeCn(raw) {
  const phone = parsePhoneNumberFromString(String(raw), "CN");
  return phone?.isValid() && phone.country === "CN" && phone.getType() === "MOBILE" ? phone.number : null;
}

We ran it on 2026-10-10 with libphonenumber-js 1.13.13 (metadata 9.0.39). It returned an E.164 number for rows 1 to 5 below and null for the rest. The shape regex column tests ^(?:\+86|0086|0)?1\d{10}$, the pattern most tutorials give, after spaces, dashes and brackets are removed:

Row 8 is the one to remember: 10X… has the right length and passes the regex, but no mobile range starts there. The same goes for 154, 179 and 194. A stricter regex like ^1[3-9]\d{9}$ still accepts every unused block from 13 to 19. Row 10 is the 12-digit 10800 toll-free range: the regex rejects it, while libphonenumber knows it as toll-free. More languages are in our JavaScript guide and the E.164 guide.

#Does number portability change the carrier?

Yes. China's porting service, 携号转网, launched nationwide on 27 November 2019, after pilots in five provincial-level regions where about 3.16 million subscribers had already ported (China Daily/Xinhua, 2019). MIIT issued its rules for the service, the Provisions on the Administration of Number Portability Services, on 11 November 2019. Its explanation of those rules says the service doesn't currently cover IoT, satellite or MVNO (resale) numbers (MIIT).

Our MNP atlas has no verified row for China yet.

So a 139 number may be served by China Telecom today, and a 189 number by China Mobile. libphonenumber's carrier data names the operator a range was first assigned to, which isn't necessarily the current one. For routing, SMS cost or fraud rules, look the number up. Our MNP lookup returns ported or not_ported and the current MCC/MNC; see how to get the MCC and MNC from a number.

#What does real-name registration mean for validation?

Mainland phone lines are registered to the subscriber's real identity. MIIT Order No. 25 made real-name registration mandatory for fixed and mobile lines from 1 September 2013 (gov.cn). The Anti-Telecom and Online Fraud Law, in force since 1 December 2022, requires operators to apply it fully (Xinhua).

This is useful context, not a data source. The identity behind a number stays with the operator. No lawful lookup, ours included, returns a subscriber's name or ID number, and a valid, registered number tells you nothing about who is using it.

#Which messaging apps work with +86 numbers?

SMS reaches every active mobile. WhatsApp is blocked in mainland China, and on 19 April 2024 Apple removed WhatsApp and Threads from its China App Store on the order of the Cyberspace Administration of China; Telegram and Signal were not available there either (HKFP/Reuters, 2024). The same report notes that some users still reach blocked apps through a VPN.

The block is on network access in the mainland, not on the number itself. A +86 number can still hold an account, for example when its owner lives or travels abroad. So a "registered" result for a +86 number is a fact about the account, not evidence that the person uses the app day to day. For OTP and service messages to mainland users, plan for SMS first. Our channel-by-country guide shows how to choose from your own opted-in data.

#Are Hong Kong and Macau numbers Chinese numbers?

Not for validation. Hong Kong has the country code +852 and Macau +853. Both use 8-digit numbers without area codes, and Macau mobiles start with 6 (libphonenumber). They are separate numbering plans, administered separately from the mainland's, so store and check them as region HK or MO, never as CN. A form that hard-codes "+86" for every Chinese customer breaks for them, which is why normalizeCn() above checks phone.country. For lists that mix all three, parse with region detection and report the region per row. Our Hong Kong and Macau phone number guides cover +852 and +853 in detail.

#What changed recently?

The rows for CN and +86 in our numbering-plan changes dataset, built from libphonenumber's release notes:

Latest numbering-plan updates for CN: 2026-07-16 (v9.0.35), 2024-08-07 (v8.13.43), 2024-07-11 (v8.13.41), 2024-03-06 (v8.13.32), 2023-02-23 (v8.13.7).

China's metadata changes more often than most countries' in this series. Update your validation library at least monthly, or numbers from newly opened ranges will fail.

#What can MobileValidate check for Chinese numbers?

Generated from our public catalog:

* bulk jobs only. † real time only for China numbers (not in bulk jobs). Catalog as fetched on 2026-10-12; the live list is at GET /v1/services.

Three gaps are specific to mainland China. The iMessage check doesn't cover +86 numbers. The Apple Account and WhatsApp registration checks cover them in real time only: in a bulk job, +86 rows answer unsupported_country and are free, and the job estimate lists them before you start. See Apple ID number check. A lookup returns network and registration facts, never a subscriber's name or ID number.

Here is the porting check from code, after normalizeCn(). It uses the public sandbox key mv_test_publicSandboxn9ZgneuhR1B9CRfKG3fulym and our test values, which are UK drama numbers because the sandbox accepts only those. With a live key, pass the output of normalizeCn(). We ran it on 2026-10-10 with Node.js 24.

const API = "https://api.mobilevalidate.com/v1/lookup";

/** Current network per number. The 13X–19X block only shows where the range was first allocated. */
export async function currentNetwork(numbers) {
  const res = await fetch(API, {
    method: "POST",
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.MOBILEVALIDATE_API_KEY}`, "Content-Type": "application/json" },
    body: JSON.stringify({ numbers, checks: ["mnp"], wait: 5 }),
  });
  if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`lookup failed: ${res.status}`);
  const { results } = await res.json();
  return results.map((row) => {
    const mnp = row.checks["number.mnp"];
    return { e164: row.e164, status: mnp.status, porting: mnp.attributes?.porting ?? null, mccMnc: mnp.attributes?.mcc_mnc ?? null, billed: mnp.billed };
  });
}

console.table(await currentNetwork(["+447700900001", "+447700900006", "+447700900005"]));

Test mode never bills; in live mode, unknown and unsupported_country answers aren't billed either. The same call with curl:

curl https://api.mobilevalidate.com/v1/lookup \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MOBILEVALIDATE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"numbers": ["+447700900006"], "checks": ["mnp"], "wait": 5}'

See MNP lookup and HLR lookup for the fields, and pricing for prices.

#What are the key takeaways?

• Mainland mobiles are +86 1 plus ten digits, written without a leading 0; store the E.164 form.
• Not every 1XX block is live: 154, 179, 194 and most of 14X and 16X aren't mobile ranges today.
• The block shows the original operator. Porting has been nationwide since November 2019, so look up the current network when it matters.
• Hong Kong (+852) and Macau (+853) are separate plans; check the region a parser returns.
• WhatsApp is blocked in the mainland, so read registration results for +86 numbers with care. No lawful lookup returns who owns a number.

Platform, regulator and company names are used descriptively. MobileValidate is not affiliated with any of them.