How To Write A Postal Address In Chinese
Knowing how to write an address is a practical skill. In English and many other languages, addresses are usually written from the smallest location first, followed by increasingly larger ones. In Chinese, this is the reverse. We write the address from big to small.
Big to Small Concept in Chinese Culture
You actually can see the big to small concept in Chinese culture quite often.
For instance, TIME. Whenever we are putting time words together, we say them from big-time-range word to small-time-range word. Let’s see this example, “3 PM on Tuesday.” The correct order in Chinese will be “Tuesday, afternoon, 3 o’clock,” which is “星期二下午三点 Xīngqí’èr xiàwǔ sān diǎn.“
Another example, NAME. The names in Chinese start with “family name” and then “given name.” Family is great than the individual person. If a person’s name is “林小明 Lín xiǎomíng,” that means “林 Lín” is their family name, “小明 xiǎomíng” is the given name.
Chinese Address Format
The official Chinese address format is like this,
国家 guójiā country → 省 shěng province → 县 xiàn county → 市 shì city/town → 区 qū district → 大街 dàjiē avenue → 路 lù road → 号 hào number→ 楼 lóu floor → 室 shì apartment number
Please note that it is NOT necessary to have to write all of these for an address.
Example: if you would like to send a letter to
Mr. Peng Wang
No.24 South Section 1, Yihuan Road, Chengdu, Sichuan, China, 610065
Step 1: Zipcode and country.
China –> 中国 Zhōngguó
610065 中国
Step 2: Province
Sichuan –> 四川省 Sìchuān shěng
610065 中国 四川省
Step 3: City
Chengdu –> 成都市 Chéngdū shì
610065 中国 四川省 成都市
Step 4: Road
Section 1, Yihuan Road –> 一环路南 一段 Yī huán lù nán yīduàn (Correct order in Chinese, Yihuan Road –> Section 1)
610065 中国 四川省 成都市 一环路南 一段
Step 5: Number
No. 24 –> 24 号 Èrshísì hào
610065 中国 四川省 成都市 一环路南一段 24号
Step 6: Recipient’s name
Mr. Peng Wang –> 王朋 先生 Wáng péng xiānshēng
610065 中国 四川省 成都市 一环路南一段 24号
王朋 先生 收
The sender’s information will be written on the up left corner of the envelope.
For your reference, here you can find the list of China zipcode. And the list of the zip code of Taiwan can be found here.
We have included a step-by-step, easy to read infographic below.
Simplified Chinese Version Infographic