How to Read a China Train Ticket

When you take a China train ticket, you can find the names of departure station and destination are shown both in Chinese and pinin, however, there are other important information are shown in Chinese and number only. You can learn to read these info with the introduction below. See the samples please.

F.1 a China train ticket

The sample above is what a China train ticket looks like. It's a paper ticket ( In some train stations you can also buy a plastic ticket, like a magnetic card). In this ticket from the left top:

A - ticket number, this is the serial number of train tickets issued from one terminal or ticket window
B - departure station in Chinese
C - departure station in pinyin, the spell of this pinyin accords with China Railway Passenger Transport Price List, which was released by Ministry of Railways.
D - departure data and time - YYYY年MM月DD日hh:mm开
E - ticket price in RMB
F - validity information

限乘当日当次车 - valid only on the specified date and specified train
在3日内到有效 - the journey must be completed by the end of day 3, day 1 is the departure day
中途下车失效 - invalid if journey broken

G - 21 digits
H - code of the train ticket issuing station, it may not be the departure station. If you buy a ticket from Beijing to Shanghai at Hangzhou train station, then this code is Hangzhou train station
I - code of ticket sale way
J - code of ticket window
K - date of ticket released
L - ticket number
M - ticket issuing station
N - destination in Chinese
O - destination in pinyin
P - carriage number, seat/sleeper number and train class - > China train class info

XX车YYY号 - carriage number XX and seat/sleeper number YYY

新 - New (higher standard)

空调 - Air-conditioned
特快 - Express train
快速 - Fast train
普快 - Ordinary train


硬座 - Hard seat
软座 - Soft seat
硬卧 - Hard sleeper (上铺 - upper, 中铺 - middle, 下铺 - lower)
软卧 - Soft sleeper (上铺 - upper, 下铺 - lower)
高级软卧 - Deluxe Soft sleeper (上铺 - upper, 下铺 - lower)
一等座 - First class seat
二等座 - Second class seat

Q - discount info
R - 2D bar code
S - train number -> train number info details

F.2 a named ticket

F.3 a sample paper ticket from Jinzhou to Shangyangbei (Shengyang North)




F.4 a magnetic card train ticket of high speed train from Beijing South to Tianjin





F.5 a magnetic card railway ticket of D308 from Shanghai to Beijing

Related resoures:

Types of trains in China - Z, K, D, T train and new high speed G and C train and more
Classes on China's Trains - Hard seat, soft seat, hard sleeper, soft sleeper and deluxe
Read a Chinese train ticket - learn to read a China train ticket with this introduction
Boarding China Trains - a guide for procedure of how to boarding a China train
Buying train tickets in China - Most important for a traveler, how to get a China train ticket