Chinese numerals

Chinese numerals are words and characters used to denote numbers in written Chinese.

Today, speakers of Chinese languages use three written numeral systems: the system of Arabic numerals used worldwide, and two indigenous systems. The more familiar indigenous system is based on Chinese characters that correspond to numerals in the spoken language. These may be shared with other languages of the Chinese cultural sphere such as Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese. Most people and institutions in China primarily use the Arabic or mixed Arabic-Chinese systems for convenience, with traditional Chinese numerals used in finance, mainly for writing amounts on cheques, banknotes, some ceremonial occasions, some boxes, and on commercials.

The other indigenous system consists of the Suzhou numerals, or huama, a positional system, the only surviving form of the rod numerals. These were once used by Chinese mathematicians, and later by merchants in Chinese markets, such as those in Hong Kong until the 1990s, but were gradually supplanted by Arabic numerals.

Characters used as numerals

Chinese and Arabic numerals may coexist, as on this kilometer marker: 1,620 km (1,010 mi) on Hwy G209 (G二に〇九きゅう)

The Chinese character numeral system consists of the Chinese characters used by the Chinese written language to write spoken numerals. Similar to spelling-out numbers in English (e.g., "one thousand nine hundred forty-five"), it is not an independent system per se. Since it reflects spoken language, it does not use the positional system as in Arabic numerals, in the same way that spelling out numbers in English does not.

Ordinary numerals

There are characters representing the numbers zero through nine, and other characters representing larger numbers such as tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands and hundred millions. There are two sets of characters for Chinese numerals: one for everyday writing, known as xiǎoxiě (小しょう寫うつし; 小しょう写うつし; 'small writing'), and one for use in commercial, accounting or financial contexts, known as dàxiě (大だい寫うつし; 大だい写うつし; 'big writing' or 'capital numbers'). The latter were developed by Wu Zetian (fl. 690–705) and were further refined by the Hongwu Emperor (fl. 1328–1398). They arose because the characters used for writing numerals are geometrically simple, so simply using those numerals cannot prevent forgeries in the same way spelling numbers out in English would. A forger could easily change the everyday characters 三さん十じゅう (30) to 五ご千せん (5000) just by adding a few strokes. That would not be possible when writing using the financial characters 參まいり拾ひろえ (30) and 伍ご仟 (5000). They are also referred to as "banker's numerals" of "anti-fraud numerals". For the same reason, rod numerals were never used in commercial records.

Value	Financial		Ordinary		Pinyin (Mandarin)	Jyutping (Cantonese)	Tâi-lô (Hokkien)	Wugniu (Wu)	Notes
	Traditional	Simplified	Traditional	Simplified
0	零れい		零れい or 〇		líng	ling4	khòng, lêng	lin	Usually 零れい is preferred, but in some areas, 〇 may be a more common informal way to represent zero. The original Chinese character is 空そら or 〇, 零れい is referred as remainder something less than 1 yet not nil [說せつ文ぶん] referred. The traditional 零れい is more often used in schools. In Unicode, 〇 is treated as a Chinese symbol or punctuation, rather than a Chinese ideograph.
1	壹いち		一いち		yī	jat1	it, tsi̍t	iq	Also 弌 (obsolete financial), can be easily manipulated into 弍; 'two' or 弎; 'three'.
2	貳に	贰	二に		èr	ji6	jī, nn̄g	gni, er, lian	Also 弍 (obsolete, financial), can be easily manipulated into 弌; 'one' or 弎; 'three'. Also 两; 兩りょう.
3	參まいり	叁	三さん		sān	saam1	sam, sann	sé	Also 弎 (obsolete financial), which can be easily manipulated into 弌; 'one' or 弍; 'two'.
4	肆		四よん		sì	sei3	sù, sì	sy	Also 䦉 (obsolete financial).
5	伍ご		五ご		wǔ	ng5	ngóo, gōo	ng	—
6	陸りく	陆	六ろく		liù	luk6	liok, la̍k	loq	—
7	柒		七なな		qī	cat1	tshit	chiq	—
8	捌		八はち		bā	baat3	pat, peh	paq	—
9	玖		九きゅう		jiǔ	gau2	kiú, káu	cieu	—
10	拾ひろえ		十じゅう		shí	sap6	si̍p, tsa̍p	zeq	Although some people use 什 as financial, it is not ideal because it can be easily manipulated into 伍ご; 'five' or 仟; 'thousand'.
100	佰		百ひゃく		bǎi	baak3	pek, pah	paq	—
1,000	仟		千せん		qiān	cin1	tshian, tsheng	chi	—
104	萬まん	万まん	萬まん	万まん	wàn	maan6	bān	ve	Chinese numbers group by ten-thousands; see Reading and transcribing numbers below.
108	億おく	亿	億おく	亿	yì	jik1	ik	i	For variant meanings and words for higher values, see Large numbers below.

Regional usage

Financial	Normal	Value	Pinyin	Standard alternative	Notes
	空そら	0	kòng	零れい	Historically, the use of 空そら for 'zero' predates 零れい. This is now archaic in most varieties of Chinese, but it is still used in most of Southern Min.
	洞ほら	0	dòng	零れい	Literally 'a hole', is analogous to the shape of ⟨0⟩ and ⟨〇⟩, it is used to unambiguously pronounce #0 in radio communication.
	幺	1	yāo	一いち	Literally 'the smallest', it is used to unambiguously pronounce #1 in radio communication. This usage is not observed in Cantonese except for 十じゅう三さん幺, which refers to a special winning hand in mahjong.
	蜀しょく	1	shǔ	一いち	In most Min varieties, there are two words meaning 'one'. For example, in Hokkien, chi̍t is used before a classifier: 'one person' is chi̍t ê lâng, not it ê lâng. In written Hokkien, 一いち is often used for both chi̍t and it, but some authors differentiate, writing 蜀しょく for chi̍t and 一いち for it.
	两; 兩りょう	2	liǎng	二に	Used instead of 二に before a classifier. For example, 'two people' is 两个人じん, not 二に个人. However, in some lects such as Shanghainese, 兩りょう is the generic term used for two in most contexts, such as 四よん十じゅう兩りょう and not 四よん十じゅう二に. It appears where 'a pair of' might in English, but 两 is always used in such cases. It is also used for numbers, with usage varying from dialect to dialect, even person to person. For example, '2222' can be read as 二に千せん二に百ひゃく二に十じゅう二に, 兩りょう千せん二に百ひゃく二に十じゅう二に, or even 兩りょう千兩せんりょう百ひゃく二に十じゅう二に in Mandarin. It is used to unambiguously pronounce #2 in radio communication.
	俩; 倆	2	liǎ	兩りょう	In regional dialects of Northeastern Mandarin, 倆 represents a "lazy" pronunciation of 兩りょう within the local dialect. It can be used as an alternative for 兩りょう个; 'two of', e.g. 我わが们倆; wǒmen liǎ; 'the two of us', as opposed to 我わが们兩个; wǒmen liǎng gè. A measure word never follows 倆.
	仨	3	sā	三さん	In regional dialects of Northeastern Mandarin, 仨 represents a "lazy" pronunciation of three within the local dialect. It can be used as a general number to represent 'three', e.g.第だい仨号; dìsāhào; 'number three'; 星ほし期き仨; xīngqīsā; 'Wednesday', or as an alternative for 三さん个; 'three of', e.g. 我わが们仨; wǒmen sā; 'the three of us', as opposed to 我わが们三さん个; wǒmen sān gè). Regardless of usage, a measure word never follows 仨.
	拐	7	guǎi	七なな	Literally 'a turn' or 'a walking stick' and is analogous to the shape of ⟨7⟩ and 七なな, it is used to unambiguously pronounce #7 in radio communication.
	勾	9	gōu	九きゅう	Literally 'a hook' and is analogous to the shape of ⟨9⟩, it is used to unambiguously pronounce #9 in radio communication.
	呀	10	yà	十じゅう	In spoken Cantonese, 呀 (aa6) can be used in place of 十じゅう when it is used in the middle of a number, preceded by a multiplier and followed by a ones digit, e.g. 六ろく呀三 '63', it is not used by itself to mean 10. This usage is not observed in Mandarin.
念ねん	廿にじゅう	20	niàn	二に十じゅう	A contraction of 二に十じゅう. The written form is still used to refer to dates, especially Chinese calendar dates. Spoken form is still used in various dialects of Chinese. See Reading and transcribing numbers section below. In spoken Cantonese, 廿にじゅう (jaa6) can be used in place of 二に十じゅう when followed by another digit such as in numbers 21–29 (e.g. 廿にじゅう三さん '23', a measure word, e.g. 廿にじゅう個こ, a noun, or in a phrase like 廿にじゅう幾いく 'twenty-something'. It is not used by itself to mean 20. 廿にじゅう; jiāp/gnie6 is still used in place of 二に十じゅう in Southern Min and Wu. 卄 is a rare variant.
	卅	30	sà	三さん十じゅう	A contraction of 三さん十じゅう. The written form is still used to abbreviate date references in Chinese. For example, May 30 Movement (五ご卅運動うんどう). The spoken form is still used in various dialects of Chinese. In spoken Cantonese, 卅; saa1 can be used in place of 三さん十じゅう when followed by another digit such as in numbers 31–39, a measure word (e.g. 卅個), a noun, or in phrases like 卅幾 'thirty-something'. It is not used by itself to mean 30. When spoken 卅 is pronounced as 卅呀; saa1-aa6. Thus 卅一 '31', is pronounced as saa1-aa6-jat1.
	卌	40	xì	四よん十じゅう	A contraction of 四よん十じゅう. Found in historical writings written in Literary Chinese. Spoken form is still used in various dialects of Chinese, albeit very rare. See Reading and transcribing numbers section below. In spoken Cantonese 卌; sei3 can be used in place of 四よん十じゅう when followed by another digit such as in numbers 41–49, a measure word (e.g. 卌個), a noun, or in phrases like 卌幾 'forty-something', it is not used by itself to mean 40. When spoken, 卌 is pronounced as 卌呀; sei3-aa6. Thus 卌一; 41, is pronounced as sei3-aa6-jat1. Similarly, in Southern Min 41 can be referred to as 卌一; siap it.
	皕	200	bì	二に百ひゃく	Very rarely used; one example is in the name of a library in Huzhou, 皕宋樓ろう; Bìsòng Lóu.

Large numbers

For numbers larger than 10,000, similarly to the long and short scales in the West, there have been four systems in ancient and modern usage. The original one, with unique names for all powers of ten up to the 14th, is ascribed to the Yellow Emperor in the 6th century book by Zhen Luan, Wujing suanshu; 'Arithmetic in Five Classics'. In modern Chinese, only the second system is used, in which the same ancient names are used, but each represents a myriad, 萬まん; wàn times the previous:

Character	萬まん	億おく	兆ちょう	京きょう	垓	秭	穰みのる	溝みぞ	澗	正ただし	載の	Factor of increase
Character (S)	万まん	亿						沟	涧		载
Pinyin	wàn	yì	zhào	jīng	gāi	zǐ	ráng	gōu	jiàn	zhèng	zǎi
Jyutping	maan6	jik1	siu6	ging1	goi1	zi2	joeng4	kau1	gaan3	zing3	zoi2
Tai Lo	bān	ik	tiāu	king	kai	cí	jiông	koo	kàn	cèng	cáinn
Shanghainese	ve	i	zau	cín	ké	tsy	gnian	kéu	ké	tsen	tse
Alternative				经; 經けい		𥝱	壤
Rank	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	=n
"short scale" (下した數すう)	104	105	106	107	108	109	1010	1011	1012	1013	1014	=10n+3 Each numeral is 10 (十じゅう; shí) times the previous.
"myriad scale" (萬まん進しん, current usage)	104	108	1012	1016	1020	1024	1028	1032	1036	1040	1044	=104n Each numeral is 10,000 (万まん; 萬まん; wàn) times the previous.
"mid-scale" (中ちゅう數すう)	104	108	1016	1024	1032	1040	1048	1056	1064	1072	1080	=108(n-1) Starting with 亿, each numeral is 108 (万まん乘じょう以万; 萬まん乘じょう以萬; wàn chéngyǐ wàn; '10000 times 10000') times the previous.
"long scale" (上うえ數すう)	104	108	1016	1032	1064	10128	10256	10512	101024	102048	104096	=102n+1 Each numeral is the square of the previous. This is similar to the -yllion system.

In practice, this situation does not lead to ambiguity, with the exception of 兆ちょう; zhào, which means 10¹² according to the system in common usage throughout the Chinese communities as well as in Japan and Korea, but has also been used for 10⁶ in recent years (especially in mainland China for megabyte). To avoid problems arising from the ambiguity, the PRC government never uses this character in official documents, but uses 万まん亿; wànyì) or 太ふとし; tài; 'tera-' instead. Partly due to this, combinations of 万まん and 亿 are often used instead of the larger units of the traditional system as well, for example 亿亿; yìyì instead of 京きょう. The ROC government in Taiwan uses 兆ちょう; zhào to mean 10¹² in official documents.

Large numbers from Buddhism

Numerals beyond 載の zǎi come from Buddhist texts in Sanskrit, but are mostly found in ancient texts. Some of the following words are still being used today, but may have transferred meanings.

Character	Pinyin	Jyutping	Tai Lo	Shanghainese	Value	Notes
极; 極ごく	jí	gik1	ke̍k	jiq5	1048	Literally 'extreme'.
恒つね河かわ沙すな; 恆つね河かわ沙すな	héng hé shā	hang4 ho4 sa1	hîng-hô-sua	ghen3-wu-so	1052	Literally 'sands of the Ganges', a metaphor used in a number of Buddhist texts referring to many individual grains of sand
阿僧あそう祇	ā sēng qí	aa1 zang1 kei4	a-sing-kî	a1-sen-ji	1056	From Sanskrit Asaṃkhyeya असंख्येय 'innumerable', 'infinite'
那由なゆ他ほか	nà yóu tā	naa5 jau4 taa1	ná-iû-thann	na1-yeu-tha	1060	From Sanskrit nayuta नियुत 'myriad'
不可思議ふかしぎ; 不可ふか思おもえ议	bùkě sīyì	bat1 ho2 si1 ji3	put-khó-su-gī	peq4-khu sy1-gni	1064	Literally translated as "unfathomable". This word is commonly used in Chinese as a chengyu, meaning "unimaginable", instead of its original meaning of the number 1064.
无量大数たいすう; 無量むりょう大數たいすう	wú liàng dà shù	mou4 loeng6 daai6 sou3	bû-liōng tāi-siàu	m3-lian du3-su	1068	无量 literally 'without measure', and can mean 1068. This word is also commonly used in Chinese as a commendatory term, means 'no upper limit'. e.g.: 前途ぜんと无量 'a great future'. 大数たいすう 'a large number', and can mean 1072.

Small numbers

The following are characters used to denote small order of magnitude in Chinese historically. With the introduction of SI units, some of them have been incorporated as SI prefixes, while the rest have fallen into disuse.

Characters	Pinyin	Value	Notes
漠ばく	mò	10−12	(Ancient Chinese) 皮かわ corresponds to the SI prefix pico-.
渺びょう	miǎo	10−11	(Ancient Chinese)
埃ほこり	āi	10−10	(Ancient Chinese)
尘; 塵ちり	chén	10−9	Literally 'dust' 纳; 奈 (S) corresponds to the SI prefix nano-.
沙すな	shā	10−8	Literally, "Sand"
纤; 纖	xiān	10−7	'fiber'
微ほろ	wēi	10−6	still used, corresponds to the SI prefix micro-.
忽ゆるがせ	hū	10−5	(Ancient Chinese)
丝; 絲いと	sī	10−4	also 秒びょう. Literally, "Thread"
毫	háo	10−3	also 毛もう. still in use, corresponds to the SI prefix milli-.
厘りん	lí	10−2	also 釐. still in use, corresponds to the SI prefix centi-.
分ぶん	fēn	10−1	still in use, corresponds to the SI prefix deci-.

Small numbers from Buddhism

Characters	Pinyin	Value	Notes
涅槃ねはん寂静じゃくじょう; 涅槃ねはん寂靜じゃくじょう	niè pán jì jìng	10−24	'Nirvana's tranquillity' 幺; 攸 corresponds to the SI prefix yocto-.
阿おもね摩ま罗; 阿おもね摩ま羅ら	ā mó luó	10−23	From Sanskrit अमल amala
阿おもね赖耶; 阿おもね頼よりゆき耶	ā lài yē	10−22	From Sanskrit आलय ālaya
清きよし净; 清せい靜しず	qīng jìng	10−21	'quiet' 仄; 介かい corresponds to the SI prefix zepto-.
虚空こくう; 虛空こくう	xū kōng	10−20	'void'
六ろく德とく	liù dé	10−19
刹那せつな; 剎那	chà nà	10−18	Literally 'brevity', from Sanskrit क्षण ksaṇa. 阿おもね corresponds to the SI prefix atto-.
弹指; 彈たま指ゆび	tán zhǐ	10−17	Literally 'flick of a finger'. Still commonly used in the phrase 弹指一瞬いっしゅん间; 'a very short time'
瞬まどか息いき	shùn xī	10−16	Literally 'moment of breath'. Still commonly used in the chengyu 瞬まどか息いき万まん变 'many things changed in a very short time'
须臾; 須臾しゅゆ	xū yú	10−15	Rarely used in modern Chinese as 'a very short time'. 飞; 飛ひ corresponds to the SI prefix femto-.
逡巡しゅんじゅん	qūn xún	10−14
模糊もこ	mó hu	10−13	'blurred'

SI prefixes

See also: Chinese units of measurement

In the People's Republic of China, the early translation for the SI prefixes in 1981 was different from those used today. The larger (兆ちょう, 京きょう, 垓, 秭, 穰みのる) and smaller Chinese numerals (微ほろ, 纖, 沙すな, 塵ちり, 渺びょう) were defined as translation for the SI prefixes as mega, giga, tera, peta, exa, micro, nano, pico, femto, atto, resulting in the creation of yet more values for each numeral.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) defined 百ひゃく萬まん as the translation for mega and 兆ちょう as the translation for tera. This translation is widely used in official documents, academic communities, informational industries, etc. However, the civil broadcasting industries sometimes use 兆ちょう赫 to represent "megahertz".

Today, the governments of both China and Taiwan use phonetic transliterations for the SI prefixes. However, the governments have each chosen different Chinese characters for certain prefixes. The following table lists the two different standards together with the early translation.

SI Prefixes

Value	Symbol	English	Early translation		PRC standard		ROC standard
1030	Q	quetta-			昆こん	kūn	昆こん	kūn
1027	R	ronna-			容よう	róng	羅ら	luó
1024	Y	yotta-			尧	yáo	佑たすく	yòu
1021	Z	zetta-			泽	zé	皆みな	jiē
1018	E	exa-	穰みのる	ráng	艾もぐさ	ài	艾もぐさ	ài
1015	P	peta-	秭	zǐ	拍はく	pāi	拍はく	pāi
1012	T	tera-	垓	gāi	太ふとし	tài	兆ちょう	zhào
109	G	giga-	京きょう	jīng	吉よし	jí	吉よし	jí
106	M	mega-	兆ちょう	zhào	兆ちょう	zhào	百ひゃく萬まん	bǎiwàn
103	k	kilo-	千せん	qiān	千せん	qiān	千せん	qiān
102	h	hecto-	百ひゃく	bǎi	百ひゃく	bǎi	百ひゃく	bǎi
101	da	deca-	十じゅう	shí	十じゅう	shí	十じゅう	shí
100	(base)	one			一いち	yī	一いち	yī
10−1	d	deci-	分ぶん	fēn	分ぶん	fēn	分ぶん	fēn
10−2	c	centi-	厘りん	lí	厘りん	lí	厘りん	lí
10−3	m	milli-	毫	háo	毫	háo	毫	háo
10−6	µ	micro-	微ほろ	wēi	微ほろ	wēi	微ほろ	wēi
10−9	n	nano-	纖	xiān	纳	nà	奈	nài
10−12	p	pico-	沙すな	shā	皮かわ	pí	皮かわ	pí
10−15	f	femto-	塵ちり	chén	飞	fēi	飛ひ	fēi
10−18	a	atto-	渺びょう	miǎo	阿おもね	à	阿おもね	à
10−21	z	zepto-			仄	zè	介かい	jiè
10−24	y	yocto-			幺	yāo	攸	yōu
10−27	r	ronto-			柔やわら	róu	絨	róng
10−30	q	quecto-			亏	kuī	匱	kuì

Reading and transcribing numbers

Whole numbers

Multiple-digit numbers are constructed using a multiplicative principle; first the digit itself (from 1 to 9), then the place (such as 10 or 100); then the next digit.

In Mandarin, the multiplier 兩りょう (liǎng) is often used rather than 二に; èr for all numbers 200 and greater with the "2" numeral (although as noted earlier this varies from dialect to dialect and person to person). Use of both 兩りょう; liǎng or 二に; èr are acceptable for the number 200. When writing in the Cantonese dialect, 二に; yi⁶ is used to represent the "2" numeral for all numbers. In the southern Min dialect of Chaozhou (Teochew), 兩りょう (no⁶) is used to represent the "2" numeral in all numbers from 200 onwards. Thus:

Number	Structure	Characters
		Mandarin	Cantonese	Chaozhou	Shanghainese
60	[6] [10]	六ろく十じゅう	六ろく十じゅう	六ろく十じゅう	六ろく十じゅう
20	[2] [10] or [20]	二に十じゅう	二に十じゅう or 廿にじゅう	二に十じゅう	廿にじゅう
200	[2] (èr or liǎng) [100]	二に百ひゃく or 兩りょう百ひゃく	二に百ひゃく or 兩りょう百ひゃく	兩りょう百ひゃく	兩りょう百ひゃく
2000	[2] (èr or liǎng) [1000]	二に千せん or 兩りょう千せん	二に千せん or 兩りょう千せん	兩りょう千せん	兩りょう千せん
45	[4] [10] [5]	四よん十じゅう五ご	四よん十じゅう五ご or 卌五	四よん十じゅう五ご	四よん十じゅう五ご
2,362	[2] [1000] [3] [100] [6] [10] [2]	兩りょう千せん三さん百ひゃく六ろく十じゅう二に	二に千せん三さん百ひゃく六ろく十じゅう二に	兩りょう千せん三さん百ひゃく六ろく十じゅう二に	兩りょう千せん三さん百ひゃく六ろく十じゅう二に

For the numbers 11 through 19, the leading 'one' (一いち; yī) is usually omitted. In some dialects, like Shanghainese, when there are only two significant digits in the number, the leading 'one' and the trailing zeroes are omitted. Sometimes, the one before "ten" in the middle of a number, such as 213, is omitted. Thus:

Number	Strict Putonghua		Colloquial or dialect usage
	Structure	Characters	Structure	Characters
14	[10] [4]	十じゅう四よん
12000	[1] [10000] [2] [1000]	一いち萬まん兩りょう千せん	[1] [10000] [2]	一いち萬まん二に or 萬まん二に
114	[1] [100] [1] [10] [4]	一いち百ひゃく一いち十じゅう四よん	[1] [100] [10] [4]	一いち百ひゃく十じゅう四よん
1158	[1] [1000] [1] [100] [5] [10] [8]	一いち千せん一いち百ひゃく五ご十じゅう八はち

Notes:

1. Nothing is ever omitted in large and more complicated numbers such as this.

In certain older texts like the Protestant Bible, or in poetic usage, numbers such as 114 may be written as [100] [10] [4] (百ひゃく十じゅう四よん).

Outside of Taiwan, digits are sometimes grouped by myriads instead of thousands. Hence it is more convenient to think of numbers here as in groups of four, thus 1,234,567,890 is regrouped here as 12,3456,7890. Larger than a myriad, each number is therefore four zeroes longer than the one before it, thus 10000 × 萬まん; wàn = 億おく; yì. If one of the numbers is between 10 and 19, the leading 'one' is omitted as per the above point. Hence (numbers in parentheses indicate that the number has been written as one number rather than expanded):

Number	Structure	Taiwan	Mainland China
12,345,678,902,345(12,3456,7890,2345)	(12) [1,0000,0000,0000] (3456) [1,0000,0000] (7890) [1,0000] (2345)	十じゅう二に兆ちょう三さん千せん四よん百ひゃく五ご十じゅう六ろく億おく七なな千せん八はち百ひゃく九きゅう十じゅう萬まん兩りょう千せん三さん百ひゃく四よん十じゅう五ご	十じゅう二に兆ちょう三さん千せん四よん百ひゃく五ご十じゅう六ろく亿七なな千せん八はち百ひゃく九きゅう十じゅう万まん二に千せん三さん百ひゃく四よん十じゅう五ご

In Taiwan, pure Arabic numerals are officially always and only grouped by thousands. Unofficially, they are often not grouped, particularly for numbers below 100,000. Mixed Arabic-Chinese numerals are often used in order to denote myriads. This is used both officially and unofficially, and come in a variety of styles:

Number	Structure	Mixed numerals
12,345,000	(1234) [1,0000] (5) [1,000]	1,234萬まん5千せん
123,450,000	(1) [1,0000,0000] (2345) [1,0000]	1億おく2345萬まん
12,345	(1) [1,0000] (2345)	1萬まん2345

Interior zeroes before the unit position (as in 1002) must be spelt explicitly. The reason for this is that trailing zeroes (as in 1200) are often omitted as shorthand, so ambiguity occurs. One zero is sufficient to resolve the ambiguity. Where the zero is before a digit other than the units digit, the explicit zero is not ambiguous and is therefore optional, but preferred. Thus:

Number	Structure	Characters
205	[2] [100] [0] [5]	二に百ひゃく零れい五ご
100,004(10,0004)	[10] [10,000] [0] [4]	十じゅう萬まん零れい四よん
10,050,026(1005,0026)	(1005) [10,000] (026) or (1005) [10,000] (26)	一いち千せん零れい五ご萬まん零れい二に十じゅう六ろく or 一いち千せん零れい五ご萬まん二に十じゅう六ろく

Fractional values

To construct a fraction, the denominator is written first, followed by 分ぶん; fēn; 'part', then the literary possessive particle 之これ; zhī; 'of this', and lastly the numerator. This is the opposite of how fractions are read in English, which is numerator first. Each half of the fraction is written the same as a whole number. For example, to express "two thirds", the structure "three parts of-this two" is used. Mixed numbers are written with the whole-number part first, followed by 又また; yòu; 'and', then the fractional part.

Fraction	Structure
2⁄3	三さん sān 3 分ぶん fēn parts 之これ zhī of this 二に èr 2 三さん 分ぶん 之これ 二に sān fēn zhī èr 3 parts {of this} 2
15⁄32	三さん sān 3 十じゅう shí 10 二に èr 2 分ぶん fēn parts 之これ zhī of this 十じゅう shí 10 五ご wǔ 5 三さん 十じゅう 二に 分ぶん 之これ 十じゅう 五ご sān shí èr fēn zhī shí wǔ 3 10 2 parts {of this} 10 5
1⁄3000	三さん sān 3 千せん qiān 1000 分ぶん fēn parts 之これ zhī of this 一いち yī 1 三さん 千せん 分ぶん 之これ 一いち sān qiān fēn zhī yī 3 1000 parts {of this} 1
3 5⁄6	三さん sān 3 又また yòu and 六ろく liù 6 分ぶん fēn parts 之これ zhī of this 五ご wǔ 5 三さん 又また 六ろく 分ぶん 之これ 五ご sān yòu liù fēn zhī wǔ 3 and 6 parts {of this} 5

Percentages are constructed similarly, using 百ひゃく; bǎi; '100' as the denominator. (The number 100 is typically expressed as 一いち百ひゃく; yībǎi; 'one hundred', like the English 'one hundred'. However, for percentages, 百ひゃく is used on its own.)

Percentage	Structure
25%	百ひゃく bǎi 100 分ぶん fēn parts 之これ zhī of this 二に èr 2 十じゅう shí 10 五ご wǔ 5 百ひゃく 分ぶん 之これ 二に 十じゅう 五ご bǎi fēn zhī èr shí wǔ 100 parts {of this} 2 10 5
110%	百ひゃく bǎi 100 分ぶん fēn parts 之これ zhī of this 一いち yī 1 百ひゃく bǎi 100 一いち yī 1 十じゅう shí 10 百ひゃく 分ぶん 之これ 一いち 百ひゃく 一いち 十じゅう bǎi fēn zhī yī bǎi yī shí 100 parts {of this} 1 100 1 10

Because percentages and other fractions are formulated the same, Chinese are more likely than not to express 10%, 20% etc. as 'parts of 10' (or ¹/₁₀, ²/₁₀, etc. i.e. 十分じゅうぶん之の一いち; shí fēnzhī yī, 十分じゅうぶん之の二に; shí fēnzhī èr, etc.) rather than "parts of 100" (or ¹⁰/₁₀₀, ²⁰/₁₀₀, etc. i.e. 百ひゃく分ふん之の十じゅう; bǎi fēnzhī shí, 百ひゃく分ふん之の二に十じゅう; bǎi fēnzhī èrshí, etc.)

In Taiwan, the most common formation of percentages in the spoken language is the number per hundred followed by the word 趴; pā, a contraction of the Japanese パーセント; pāsento, itself taken from 'percent'. Thus 25% is 二に十じゅう五ご趴; èrshíwǔ pā.

Decimal numbers are constructed by first writing the whole number part, then inserting a point (点てん; 點てん; diǎn), and finally the fractional part. The fractional part is expressed using only the numbers for 0 to 9, similarly to English.

Decimal expression	Structure
16.98	十じゅう shí 10 六ろく liù 6 點てん diǎn point 九きゅう jiǔ 9 八はち bā 8 十じゅう 六ろく 點てん 九きゅう 八はち shí liù diǎn jiǔ bā 10 6 point 9 8
12345.6789	一いち yī 1 萬まん wàn 10000 兩りょう liǎng 2 千せん qiān 1000 三さん sān 3 百ひゃく bǎi 100 四よん sì 4 十じゅう shí 10 五ご wǔ 5 點てん diǎn point 六ろく liù 6 七なな qī 7 八はち bā 8 九きゅう jiǔ 9 一いち 萬まん 兩りょう 千せん 三さん 百ひゃく 四よん 十じゅう 五ご 點てん 六ろく 七なな 八はち 九きゅう yī wàn liǎng qiān sān bǎi sì shí wǔ diǎn liù qī bā jiǔ 1 10000 2 1000 3 100 4 10 5 point 6 7 8 9
75.4025	七なな 七なな qī 7 十じゅう 十じゅう shí 10 五ご 五ご wǔ 5 點てん 點てん diǎn point 四よん 四よん sì 4 〇 零れい líng 0 二に 二に èr 2 五ご 五ご wǔ 5 七なな 十じゅう 五ご 點てん 四よん 〇 二に 五ご 七なな 十じゅう 五ご 點てん 四よん 零れい 二に 五ご qī shí wǔ diǎn sì líng èr wǔ 7 10 5 point 4 0 2 5
0.1	零れい líng 0 點てん diǎn point 一いち yī 1 零れい 點てん 一いち líng diǎn yī 0 point 1

半はん; bàn; 'half' functions as a number and therefore requires a measure word. For example: 半はん杯はい水すい; bàn bēi shuǐ; 'half a glass of water'.

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers are formed by adding 第だい; dì; 'sequence' before the number.

Ordinal	Structure
1st	第だい dì sequence 一いち yī 1 第だい 一いち dì yī sequence 1
2nd	第だい dì sequence 二に èr 2 第だい 二に dì èr sequence 2
82nd	第だい dì sequence 八はち bā 8 十じゅう shí 10 二に èr 2 第だい 八はち 十じゅう 二に dì bā shí èr sequence 8 10 2

The Heavenly Stems are a traditional Chinese ordinal system.

Negative numbers

Negative numbers are formed by adding 负; 負まけ; fù before the number.

Number	Structure
−1158	負まけ fù negative 一いち yī 1 千せん qiān 1000 一いち yī 1 百ひゃく bǎi 100 五ご wǔ 5 十じゅう shí 10 八はち bā 8 負まけ 一いち 千せん 一いち 百ひゃく 五ご 十じゅう 八はち fù yī qiān yī bǎi wǔ shí bā negative 1 1000 1 100 5 10 8
−3 5/6	負まけ fù negative 三さん sān 3 又また yòu and 六ろく liù 6 分ぶん fēn parts 之これ zhī of this 五ご wǔ 5 負まけ 三さん 又また 六ろく 分ぶん 之これ 五ご fù sān yòu liù fēn zhī wǔ negative 3 and 6 parts {of this} 5
−75.4025	負まけ fù negative 七なな qī 7 十じゅう shí 10 五ご wǔ 5 點てん diǎn point 四よん sì 4 零れい líng 0 二に èr 2 五ご wǔ 5 負まけ 七なな 十じゅう 五ご 點てん 四よん 零れい 二に 五ご fù qī shí wǔ diǎn sì líng èr wǔ negative 7 10 5 point 4 0 2 5

Usage

See also: Chinese measure words (classifiers) and Chinese calendar

Chinese grammar requires the use of classifiers (measure words) when a numeral is used together with a noun to express a quantity. For example, "three people" is expressed as 三さん个人ひと; 三さん個こ人ひと; sān ge rén, "three (ge particle) person", where 个/個こ ge is a classifier. There exist many different classifiers, for use with different sets of nouns, although 个/個こ is the most common, and may be used informally in place of other classifiers.

Chinese uses cardinal numbers in certain situations in which English would use ordinals. For example, 三さん楼ろう/三さん樓ろう; sān lóu (literally "three story/storey") means "third floor" ("second floor" in British § Numbering). Likewise, 二に十じゅう一いち世せい纪/二に十じゅう一いち世紀せいき; èrshí yī shìjì (literally "twenty-one century") is used for "21st century".

Numbers of years are commonly spoken as a sequence of digits, as in 二に零れい零れい一いち; èr líng líng yī ("two zero zero one") for the year 2001. Names of months and days (in the Western system) are also expressed using numbers: 一いち月つき; yīyuè ("one month") for January, etc.; and 星ほし期き一いち; xīngqīyī ("week one") for Monday, etc. There is only one exception: Sunday is 星ほし期日きじつ; xīngqīrì, or informally 星ほし期き天てん; xīngqītiān, both literally "week day". When meaning "week", "星ほし期き" xīngqī and "禮拜れいはい; 礼拜れいはい" lǐbài are interchangeable. "禮拜れいはい天てん" lǐbàitiān or "禮拜れいはい日び" lǐbàirì means "day of worship". Chinese Catholics call Sunday "主おも日び" zhǔrì, "Lord's day".

Full dates are usually written in the format 2001年ねん1月がつ20日にち for January 20, 2001 (using 年とし; nián "year", 月つき; yuè "month", and 日ひ; rì "day") – all the numbers are read as cardinals, not ordinals, with no leading zeroes, and the year is read as a sequence of digits. For brevity the nián, yuè and rì may be dropped to give a date composed of just numbers. For example "6-4" in Chinese is "six-four", short for "month six, day four" i.e. June Fourth, a common Chinese shorthand for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests (because of the violence that occurred on June 4). For another example 67, in Chinese is sixty seven, short for year nineteen sixty seven, a common Chinese shorthand for the Hong Kong 1967 leftist riots.

Counting rod and Suzhou numerals

Counting rod numerals

Main article: Suzhou numerals

In the same way that Roman numerals were standard in ancient and medieval Europe for mathematics and commerce, the Chinese formerly used the rod numerals, which is a positional system. The Suzhou numerals (simplified Chinese: 苏州花はな码; traditional Chinese: 蘇州そしゅう花はな碼; pinyin: Sūzhōu huāmǎ) system is a variation of the Southern Song rod numerals. Nowadays, the huāmǎ system is only used for displaying prices in Chinese markets or on traditional handwritten invoices.

Hand gestures

Hand symbol for the number six

Main article: Chinese number gestures

There is a common method of using of one hand to signify the numbers one to ten. While the five digits on one hand can easily express the numbers one to five, six to ten have special signs that can be used in commerce or day-to-day communication.

Historical use of numerals in China

Shang oracle bone numerals of 14th century B.C.

West Zhou dynasty bronze script

Counting rod numeral example from the Yongle Encyclopedia showing the number 71,824

Japanese counting board with grids

Most Chinese numerals of later periods were descendants of the Shang dynasty oracle numerals of the 14th century BC. The oracle bone script numerals were found on tortoise shell and animal bones. In early civilizations, the Shang were able to express any numbers, however large, with only nine symbols and a counting board though it was still not positional.

Some of the bronze script numerals such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, and 13 became part of the system of rod numerals.

In this system, horizontal rod numbers are used for the tens, thousands, hundred thousands etc. It is written in Sunzi Suanjing that "one is vertical, ten is horizontal".

七なな	一いち	八はち	二に	四よん
7	1	8	2	4

The counting rod numerals system has place value and decimal numerals for computation, and was used widely by Chinese merchants, mathematicians and astronomers from the Han dynasty to the 16th century.

In 690 AD, Wu Zetian promulgated Zetian characters, one of which was 〇. The word is now used as a synonym for the number zero.

Alexander Wylie, Christian missionary to China, in 1853 already refuted the notion that "the Chinese numbers were written in words at length", and stated that in ancient China, calculation was carried out by means of counting rods, and "the written character is evidently a rude presentation of these". After being introduced to the rod numerals, he said "Having thus obtained a simple but effective system of figures, we find the Chinese in actual use of a method of notation depending on the theory of local value [i.e. place-value], several centuries before such theory was understood in Europe, and while yet the science of numbers had scarcely dawned among the Arabs."

During the Ming and Qing dynasties (after Arabic numerals were introduced into China), some Chinese mathematicians used Chinese numeral characters as positional system digits. After the Qing period, both the Chinese numeral characters and the Suzhou numerals were replaced by Arabic numerals in mathematical writings.

Cultural influences

Traditional Chinese numeric characters are also used in Japan and Korea and were used in Vietnam before the 20th century. In vertical text (that is, read top to bottom), using characters for numbers is the norm, while in horizontal text, Arabic numerals are most common. Chinese numeric characters are also used in much the same formal or decorative fashion that Roman numerals are in Western cultures. Chinese numerals may appear together with Arabic numbers on the same sign or document.

See also

• Numbers in Chinese culture
• Celestial stem