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

 

Traditional Chinese Version Infographic