Как пишется китайские цифры

Считаем по-китайски

Несмотря на то, что китайская система чисел логична и последовательна, в ней есть некоторые особенности, с первого взгляда сложные для непосвящённого. Однако стоит лишь познакомиться с ними поближе — и всё становится на свои места. Уделив пару минут времени на изучение данного аспекта языка, вы в дальнейшем сможете писать, читать и считать самые сложные китайские числа.

Считаем от одного до ста

Единичные цифры просты, их список приведен ниже.

Цифра	Китайский	Пиньинь
0	零，〇	líng
1	一	yī
2	二	èr
3	三	sān
4	四	sì
5	五	wǔ
6	六	liù
7	七	qī
8	八	bā
9	九	jiǔ
10	十	shí

Числа от 11 до 19

Одиннадцать, двенадцать и другие числа до девятнадцати формируются вполне логично: иероглиф 十 shí, десять ставится перед единичной цифрой от одного 一 yī до девяти 九 jiǔ. Так одиннадцать — это 十一 shíyī, двенадцать  十二 shí’èr, тринадцать 十三 shísān и так далее, до девятнадцати 十九 shíjiǔ.

Примеры:

• 十一 shí yī 11
• 十二 shí èr 12
• 十三 shí sān 13
• 十四 shí sì 14
• 十五 shí wǔ 15
• 十六 shí liù 16
• 十七 shí qī 17
• 十八 shí bā 18
• 十九 shí jiǔ 19

Десятки

Если счёт пошёл на десятки, то уже перед иероглифом «десять» 十 shí ставится соответствующая количеству десятков цифра: двадцать — это 二十 èrshí, тридцать 三十 sānshí и так далее. После десятков ставятся единицы: двадцать три 二十三 èrshí sān, тридцать четыре 三十四 sānshí sì, девяносто девять 九十九 jiǔshí jiǔ. Всё логично и последовательно.

Только не забудьте, что число одиннадцать (и другие, см. примеры выше) — это не 一十一 yī shí yī, а просто 十一 shí yī. Иероглиф 一 yī в десятках используется только при написании более крупных чисел, например, 111, 1111 и т. д.

Примеры:

• 二十 èr shí 20
• 三十 sān shí 30
• 四十 sì shí 40
• 五十 wǔ shí 50
• 二十三 èr shí sān 23
• 三十九 sān shí jiǔ 39
• 四十四 sì shí sì 44
• 九十七 jiǔ shí qī 97
• 八十二 bā shí èr 82
• 七十三 qī shí sān 73
• 十一 shí yī 11

И, наконец, сто обозначается иероглифами 一百 yībǎi — одна сотня. Теперь вы знаете, как считать от одного до ста по-китайски.

После ста

От сотни до тысячи

Система с сотнями аналогична таковой с десятками. Для краткости: двести пятьдесят — это 二百五 èrbǎi wǔ. Однако если требуется поставить после числа счётное слово, то придется употребить в полном виде: 两百五十 (liǎng bǎi wǔshí — перед счётным словом с сотнями и более вместо 二 используется 两).

Примеры:

• 一百一十一 yī bǎi yī shí yī 111
• 一百一 yī bǎi yī 110
• 二百一十 èr bǎi yī shí 210
• 两百一十个人 liǎng bǎi yī shí gèrén 210 человек
• 三百五十 sān bǎi wǔ shí 350
• 九百九十 jiǔ bǎi jiǔ shí 990
• 八百七 bā bǎi qī 870
• 五百五 wǔ bǎi wǔ 550
• 四百六 sì bǎi liù 460
• 六百八十 liù bǎi bā shí 680

Число 101

Если посередине числа находится ноль, он обозначается иероглифом 零 или 〇 (líng — «ноль»). В конце нули не пишутся.

Примеры:

• 一百零一 yī bǎi líng yī 101
• 三百零五 sān bǎi líng wǔ 305
• 九百零九 jiǔ bǎi líng jiǔ 909
• 两百零六 liǎng bǎi líng liù 206
• 四百 sìbǎi 400

После тысячи

千 qiān с китайского — «тысяча». Правила аналогичны сотням, только вне зависимости от количества нулей посередине явно обозначается лишь один.

Примеры:

• 一千零一 yīqiān líng yī 1001
• 一千零一十 yīqiān líng yīshí 1010
• 一千零一十一 yīqiān líng yīshíyī 1011
• 一千零一十九 yīqiān líng yīshíjiǔ 1019
• 一千零二十 yīqiān líng èrshí 1020
• 一千一百 yīqiān yībǎi 1100
• 一千一百零一 yīqiān yībǎi líng yī 1101
• 一千一百一十 yīqiān yībǎi yīshí 1110
• 九千九百九十九 jiǔqiān jiǔbǎi jiǔshí jiǔ 9999

Больше примеров

Цифра	Китайский	Пиньинь	Русский
1	一	yī	один
10	十	shí	десять
13	十三	shísān	тринадцать
20	二十	èrshí	двадцать
21	二十一	èrshí yī	двадцать один
99	九十九	jiǔshí jiǔ	девяносто девять
100	一百	yībǎi	сто
101	一百零一	yībǎi líng yī	сто один
110	一百一十	yībǎi yīshí	сто десять
119	一百一十九	yībǎi yīshí jiǔ	сто девятнадцать

Уникальные числа

В китайском языке есть две цифры, которых нет ни в русском, ни в английском (точнее, есть уникальные слова, обозначающие числа, которые в других языках являются комбинациями цифр).

• 万 wàn — 10 000, десять тысяч;
• 亿 yì — 100 000 000, сто миллионов.

万 wàn используется очень часто и является камнем преткновения для большинства изучающих китайский язык. В русском и других языках числа обычно разбиваются на разряды по три цифры с конца. Из-за наличия 万 в китайском лучше разбивать числа на группы по 4 цифры с конца, например:

• 一万二千 yī wàn èr qiān 1 2000 (вместо 12 000)
• 一万两千个人 yī wàn liǎng qiān gè rén 1 2000 человек

Разбейте число 12000 на разряды по 3 цифры — 12 000, и станет очевидно, что это двенадцать тысяч. Пойдя китайским путем, разбейте его на группы по 4, и получится 1 2000 一万二千 (yī wàn èr qiān, один вань и две тысячи) — всё просто и логично.

Еще примеры:

Разряд по 3	Русский	Разряд по 4	Китайский	Пиньинь
10 000	десять тысяч	1 0000	一万	yī wàn
13 200	тринадцать тысяч двести	1 3200	一万三千二百	yī wàn sānqiān èr bǎi
56 700	пятьдесят тысяч семьсот	5 6700	五万六千七百	wǔ wàn liùqiān qībǎi

Считаем до 100 (一百)
11 (10 + 1) = 十一
15 (10 + 5) = 十五
20 (2 * 10) = 二十
23 (20 + 3) = 二十三

Считаем до 1000 (一千)
200 – (2 * 100) = 二百
876 – (8 * 100 + 70 + 6) = 八百七十六

Считаем до 10 000 (十千)
2000 – (2 * 1000) = 二千
7865 – (7 * 1000 + 800 + 60 + 5) = 七千八百六十五

Считаем до 100 000 (十万)
20 000 – (2 * 10 000) = 二万
86 532 – (8 * 10 000 + 6000 + 500 + 30 + 2) = 八万六千五百三十二

Считаем до 1 000 000 (百万)
500 000 – (50 * 10 000) = 五十万
734 876 – (73 * 10 000 + 4 * 1000 + 800 + 70 + 6) = 七十三万四千八百七十六

Считаем до 10 000 000 (一千万)
5 000 000 – (500 * 10 000) = 五百万
7 854 329 – (785 * 10 000 + 4 * 1000 + 300 + 20 + 9) = 七百八十五万四千三百二十九

Считаем до 100 000 000 (一亿)
25 000 000 – (2500 * 10 000) = 二千五百万
65 341 891 – (6534 * 10 000 + 1000 + 800 + 90 + 1) = 六千五百三十四万一千八百九十一

Считаем до 10 000 000 000 (十亿)
456 000 000 – (4 * 100 000 000 + 5600 * 10 000) = 四亿五千六百万
789 214 765 – (7 * 100 000 000 + 8921 * 10 000 + 4000 + 700 + 60 + 5) = 七亿八千九百二十一万四千七百六十五

Структура чисел в китайском языке

亿	千万	百万	十万	万	千	百	十	一
yì	qiān wàn	bǎi wàn	shí wàn	wàn	qiān	bǎi	shí	yī
Сотни миллионов	Десятки миллионов	Миллионы	Сотни тысяч	Десятки тысяч	Тысячи	Сотни	Десятки	Единицы

Большие числа

Как говорилось выше, в китайском языке числа делятся на разряды несколько иным образом, чем в русском. Мы привыкли разбивать большие числа на группы по количеству тысяч, китайцы же — по количеству десятков тысяч 万 wàn. Большинству изучающих китайский сложно понять эту структуру, но есть способы упростить её понимание и запомнить, как формируются даже очень большие цифры.

Десять тысяч 万 wàn

Число «десять тысяч» выражается одним иероглифом 万 wàn. К примеру, 11 000 на китайском не будет записано как 十一千 (shíyī qiān, одиннадцать тысяч), правильный вариант: 一万一千 (yī wàn yīqiān, один вань и одна тысяча). Самый простой способ запомнить это: отсчитывать четыре знака от конца числа и ставить запятую — тогда станет видно, где вань, а где тысячи.

Сто миллионов 亿 yì

После 99 999 999 следует другая уникальная китайская цифра 亿 yì, используемая для обозначения одной сотни миллионов. Число 1 101 110 000 будет записано как 十一亿零一百十一万 shíyī yì líng yībǎi shíyī wàn. Опять же, запомнить это проще, если разбить на 4 разряда.

Как запомнить

Ещё один способ запомнить, как пишутся большие китайские числа — это выучить некоторые из них. Один миллион, к примеру, 一百万 yībǎi wàn. Затем 一千万 (yīqiān wàn, десять миллионов). Этот путь проще потому, что вам не придется снова и снова считать множество нулей.

Стоит выучить наизусть:

• 一百万 (часто используется) yībǎi wàn миллион
• 十三亿 (население Китая) shísān yì 1,3 миллиарда человек

Примеры:

Вот еще некоторые примеры больших чисел на китайском:

• 52 152 = 五万二千一百五十二 wǔ wàn èrqiān yībǎi wǔ shí èr
• 27 214 896 = 二千七百二十一万四千八百九十六 èr qiān qībǎi èrshíyī wàn sìqiān bābǎi jiǔ shí liù
• 414 294 182 = 四亿一千四百二十九万四千一百八十二 sì yì yīqiān sìbǎi èrshíjiǔ wàn sìqiān yībǎi bāshí’èr

Дроби, проценты и отрицательные числа

Для обозначения процентов китайцы используют слово 百分之 bǎi fēn zhī, ставя его перед числом, например: 百分之五十六 (bǎi fēn zhī wǔshí liù, 56%).

Запятую в дробях выражают иероглифом 点 diǎn и после нее называют числа по порядку со всеми нулями, например: 123,00456 一百二十三点零零四五六 yībǎi èrshí sān diǎn líng líng sì wǔ liù.

Минус в отрицательных числах обозначают иероглифом 负 fù, например: -150 负一百五 fù yībǎi wǔ.

Гигантские числа

Здесь, просто для справки, мы приведем список китайских чисел по возрастанию вместе с количеством нулей после знака. А всех, кому хочется что-нибудь посчитать по-китайски приглашаем опробовать наш онлайн-конвертер чисел в иероглифы.

Число	Пиньинь	Нули
十	shí	1
百	bǎi	2
千	qiān	3
万	wàn	4
亿	yì	8
兆	zhào	12
京	jīng	16
垓	gāi	20
秭	zǐ	24
穰	ráng	28
沟	gōu	32
涧	jiàn	36
正	zhèng	40
载	zài	44
极恒河沙	jí héng hé shā	48
阿僧只	ā sēng zhǐ	52
那由他	nà yóu tā	56
不可思议	bùkě sīyì	60
无量	wúliàng	64
大数	dà shù	68

Ни у кого не возникнет сомнений в сложности китайского языка. Для его изучения лучше запастись терпением и приготовиться потратить кучу времени. Ведь китайские символы и цифры совершенно непохожи на те, что мы привыкли использовать каждый день.

Легко ли изучать?

Основная сложность в китайском языке – иероглифы. Древний алфавит Китая, изобретенный за 1500 тыс. лет до нашей эры, в настоящее время является уникальной и единственной в мире системой, где используются не буквы, а рисунки. Их настолько много, что запомнить все невозможно. Количество иероглифов достигает нескольких тысяч, именно поэтому его изучение – процесс долгий и кропотливый.

Китайская система, в отличие от своих собратьев, изобретенных в стародавние времена во многих древних цивилизациях, приспособилась к мировым изменениям, однако для самих китайцев является подходящим и традиционным способом письма и счета.

Для других людей сложны для восприятия не только слова, заключающиеся в таких рисунках, но и цифры на китайском языке. Ведь держать в голове столько изображений, обозначающих определенное количество, достаточно трудно.

Ну а самым простым аспектом, с которого начинают изучать этот язык, считаются простые цифры.

Учим счет от 1 до 10 с произношением

Но важны не только китайские иероглифы, но и их произношение. Счет от одного до десяти с русской транскрипцией:

• 1 (一) – Ии. Произносится с долгим звуком «и»;
• 2 (二) – Ар. Понизьте интонацию, произнося звук «р»;
• 3 (三) – Сан. Голос не изменяется;
• 4 (四) – Су. Интонация понижается;
• 5 (五) – Вуу. Вначале понизьте, а потом повысьте голос;
• 6 (六) – Лии-йу. Понижение голоса. При произношении звук «й» плавно переходит в «у», поэтому почти не слышится;
• 7 (七) – Чии. Голос не изменяется;
• 8 (八) – Баа. Интонация также не меняется.
• 9 (九) – Джии-йуу. Долгий звук «и», аналогично числу 6, переходит в длинное «у». Голос понижается в начале и после повышается;
• 10 (十) – Шур. Произносится с постепенным повышением голоса.

Немного об интонации. Повышение голоса означает изменение высоты, произношение похоже на то, будто вы задаете какой-то вопрос. Понижение – как будто вы говорите при вздохе.

Цифры – довольно распространенные символы в любом языке. Они используются, когда мы хотим узнать сколько времени или цену на товар, при оплате в транспорте. Поэтому изучить их нужно как можно скорее.

Цифры от 11 и выше

Числа на китайском группируются в определенные разряды. Эта система логична и имеет определенную последовательность. Но не обошлось без своеобразных особенностей, которые сначала кажутся трудными для понимания.

В счете от 11 до 19 пишется иероглиф 10 (Шур), к которому прибавляются цифры от 1 до 9. Так, число 15 будет звучать как Шур Вуу (十一).

Практически по такой же логике складываются десятки. К числу 10 в этом случае прибавляется цифра, обозначающая количество десятков, в качестве приставки:

• 20 (二十) будет читаться как Аршур;
• 30 (三十) – Саншур;
• 40 (四十) – Сушур и так далее.

Числа от 100 и дальше строятся аналогично, в сопоставлении простых цифр. Здесь важно запомнить, как на китайском произносится 100 (一百) – «и бай».

Сложность в том, что к каждому числительному закреплен свой иероглиф. Поэтому запомнить такой поток рисунков могут только самые терпеливые и горящие настоящим желанием выучить китайский язык.

Как выглядят цифры в Китае

Свою особенность имеет цифра 2. Выступая в роли числительного, то есть, когда нам нужно что-то посчитать, она произносится ни «ар», а «лян», а выглядеть соответствующий иероглиф будет так: 两. Однако во множественных числах двойка сохраняет свою основную внешность. Поэтому фраза «22 книги» будет иметь перевод «二十二本书». Если же она повторяется несколько раз, то вначале пишется «лян», а последующие будут читаться как «ар».

В номерах телефонов цифра 2 будет обычной, а вот произношение единицы меняется. Вместо «Ии» диктуют «Яо» — yāo. Например, номер 16389294872 будет выглядеть как 幺六三八九二九四八七二.

Многие числа на китайском языке имеют одинаковое созвучие со словами. Этот факт не остался в стороне, а носители очень часто к этому прибегают. Так они могут рассказать о своей любви с помощью цифр 520 -我爱你.

Любимые и нелюбимые цифры китайцев

Китай – страна, где помнят и чтут традиции. Поэтому для того, чтобы разобраться в произношении некоторых чисел, нужно знать, что они значат для этого народа.

Свою любовь китайцы проявляют к:

• 1. Чаще всего она используется, чтобы обозначить лидерство или первостепенность – «первый в соревнованиях», «первый в университете», «первый прочитал эту книгу».
• 6. Русский перевод китайского иероглифа — «гладко, без проблем» — 溜 (顺溜 (shùnliu). Она ассоциируется с благоприятностью и везением и поэтому так полюбилась в Китае.
• 8. Похоже по звучанию со словом «богатство» -发. Китайцы любят пожелать больших денег, поэтому число считается удачным. Также восьмерка встречается в мифологии и у буддистов является чем-то сакральным.
• 9. Как «долгий» (久) звучит иероглиф девятки, что ассоциируется с вечной любовью.

Цифры, к которым относятся с опасением:

• Китайцы страдают от, так называемой, тетрофобии. Число 4 созвучно слову «смерть», что доводит жителей страны до дрожи. Избегают всего, что связано с четверкой: номеров телефонов, квартир, домов и даже этажей. Хотя в этом есть свои плюсы для тех, кто не подвержен суевериям: все такие предметы можно приобрести с огромной скидкой.
• Число 2 имеет неоднозначное положение в обществе китайцев. Его относят к несчастливым, так как оно связано со ссорами. Но одновременно по верованию жителей весь мир разделен на две части: черную и белую, более известные как Инь и Ян. Поэтому наряду с конфликтностью китайская двойка – символ брака и любви.

Заключение

Несмотря на всю сложность китайский язык достаточно логичен и последователен, а для терпеливого ученика это будет увлекательное погружение в мир китайской культуры. Изучение иероглифов откроет для Вас еще одну сторону – искусство каллиграфии, которое местные жители называют «музыкой для глаз».

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

Today, speakers of Chinese 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.^{[citation needed]}

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 to represent numbers[edit]

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.

Standard numbers[edit]

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 (traditional Chinese: 小寫; simplified Chinese: 小写; lit. ‘small writing’), and one for use in commercial, accounting or financial contexts, known as dàxiě (traditional Chinese: 大寫; simplified Chinese: 大写; lit. ‘big writing’). The latter 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.^[1] A forger could easily change the everyday characters 三十 (30) to 五千 (5000) just by adding a few strokes. That would not be possible when writing using the financial characters 參拾 (30) and 伍仟 (5000). They are also referred to as «banker’s numerals», «anti-fraud numerals», or «banker’s anti-fraud numerals». For the same reason, rod numerals were never used in commercial records.

T denotes Traditional Chinese characters, while S denotes Simplified Chinese characters.

Financial	Normal	Value	Pīnyīn (Mandarin)	Jyutping (Cantonese)	Pe̍h-ōe-jī (Hokkien)	Wugniu (Shanghainese)	Notes
Character (T)	Character (S)	Character (T)	Character (S)
零	零	〇	0	líng	ling4	khòng/lêng	lin	Usually 零 is preferred, but in some areas, 〇 may be a more common informal way to represent zero. The original Chinese character is 空 or 〇, 零 is referred as remainder something less than 1 yet not nil [說文] referred. The traditional 零 is more often used in schools. In Unicode, 〇 is treated as a Chinese symbol or punctuation, rather than a Chinese ideograph.
壹	一	1	yī	jat1	it/chi̍t	iq	Also 弌 (obsolete financial), can be easily manipulated into 弍 (two) or 弎 (three).
貳	贰	二	2	èr	ji6	jī/nn̄g	gni/er/lian	Also 弍 (obsolete financial), can be easily manipulated into 弌 (one) or 弎 (three). Also 兩 (T) or 两 (S), see Characters with regional usage section.
參	参	三	3	sān	saam1	sam/saⁿ	sé	Also 弎 (obsolete financial), which can be easily manipulated into 弌 (one) or 弍 (two).
肆	四	4	sì	sei3	sù/sì	sy	Also 䦉 (obsolete financial)[nb 1]
伍	五	5	wǔ	ng5	ngó͘/gō͘	ng
陸	陆	六	6	liù	luk6	lio̍k/la̍k	loq
柒	七	7	qī	cat1	chhit	chiq
捌	八	8	bā	baat3	pat/peh	paq
玖	九	9	jiǔ	gau2	kiú/káu	cieu
拾	十	10	shí	sap6	si̍p/cha̍p	zeq	Although some people use 什 as financial[citation needed], it is not ideal because it can be easily manipulated into 伍 (five) or 仟 (thousand).
佰	百	100	bǎi	baak3	pek/pah	paq
仟	千	1,000	qiān	cin1	chhian/chheng	chi
萬	萬	万	104	wàn	maan6	bān	ve	Chinese numbers group by ten-thousands; see Reading and transcribing numbers below.
億	億	亿	105/108	yì	jik1	ek	i	For variant meanings and words for higher values, see Large numbers below and ja:大字 (数字).

Characters with regional usage[edit]

Financial	Normal	Value	Pinyin (Mandarin)	Standard alternative	Notes
	空	0	kòng	零	Historically, the use of 空 for «zero» predates 零. This is now archaic in most varieties of Chinese, but it is still used in Southern Min.
	洞	0	dòng	零	Literally means «a hole» and is analogous to the shape of «0» and «〇», it is used to unambiguously pronounce «#0» in radio communication. [2][3]
	幺	1	yāo	一	Literally means «the smallest», it is used to unambiguously pronounce «#1» in radio communication. [2][3] This usage is not observed in Cantonese except for 十三幺 (a special winning hand) in Mahjong.
	蜀	1	shǔ	一	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 is often used for both chi̍t and it, but some authors differentiate, writing 蜀 for chi̍t and 一 for it.
	兩(T) or 两(S)	2	liǎng	二	Used instead of 二 before a classifier. For example, «two people» is «两个人», not «二个人». However, in some lects, such as Shanghainese, 兩 is the generic term used for two in most contexts, such as «四十兩» and not «四十二». It appears where «a pair of» would 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 «二千二百二十二», «兩千二百二十二» or even «兩千兩百二十二» in Mandarin. It is used to unambiguously pronounce «#2» in radio communication. [2][3]
	倆(T) or 俩(S)	2	liǎ	兩	In regional dialects of Northeastern Mandarin, 倆 represents a «lazy» pronunciation of 兩 within the local dialect. It can be used as an alternative for 兩个 «two of» (e.g. 我们倆 Wǒmen liǎ, «the two of us», as opposed to 我们兩个 Wǒmen liǎng gè). A measure word (such as 个) never follows after 倆.
	仨	3	sā	三	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.第仨号 dì sā hào, «number three»; 星期仨 xīngqīsā, «Wednesday»), or as an alternative for 三个 «three of» (e.g. 我们仨 Wǒmen sā, «the three of us», as opposed to 我们三个 Wǒmen sān gè). Regardless of usage, a measure word (such as 个) never follows after 仨.
	拐	7	guǎi	七	Literally means «a turn» or «a walking stick» and is analogous to the shape of «7» and «七», it is used to unambiguously pronounce «#7» in radio communication. [2][3]
	勾	9	gōu	九	Literally means «a hook» and is analogous to the shape of «9», it is used to unambiguously pronounce «#9» in radio communication. [2][3]
	呀	10	yà	十	In spoken Cantonese, 呀 (aa6) can be used in place of 十 when it is used in the middle of a number, preceded by a multiplier and followed by a ones digit, e.g. 六呀三, 63; it is not used by itself to mean 10. This usage is not observed in Mandarin.
念	廿	20	niàn	二十	A contraction of 二十. 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 (jaa6) can be used in place of 二十 when followed by another digit such as in numbers 21-29 (e.g. 廿三, 23), a measure word (e.g. 廿個), a noun, or in a phrase like 廿幾 («twenty-something»); it is not used by itself to mean 20. 卄 is a rare variant.
	卅	30	sà	三十	A contraction of 三十. The written form is still used to abbreviate date references in Chinese. For example, May 30 Movement (五卅運動). Spoken form is still used in various dialects of Chinese. In spoken Cantonese, 卅 (saa1) can be used in place of 三十 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	四十	A contraction of 四十. Found in historical writings written in Classical 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 四十 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.
	皕	200	bì	二百	Very rarely used; one example is in the name of a library in Huzhou, 皕宋樓 (Bìsòng Lóu).

Large numbers[edit]

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 number 10,000 (myriad, 萬 wàn) times the previous:

Character (T)	萬	億	兆	京	垓	秭	穰	溝	澗	正	載	Factor of increase
Character (S)	万	亿	兆	京	垓	秭	穰	沟	涧	正	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
Hokkien POJ	bān	ek	tiāu	keng	kai	chí	jiông	ko͘	kàn	chèng	cháiⁿ
Shanghainese	ve	i	zau	cín	ké	tsy	gnian	kéu	ké	tsen	tse
Alternative				經/经		𥝱	壤
Rank	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	=n
«short scale» (下數)	104	105	106	107	108	109	1010	1011	1012	1013	1014	=10n+3 Each numeral is 10 (十 shí) times the previous.
«myriad scale» (萬進, current usage)	104	108	1012	1016	1020	1024	1028	1032	1036	1040	1044	=104n Each numeral is 10,000 (萬 (T) or 万 (S) wàn) times the previous.
«mid-scale» (中數)	104	108	1016	1024	1032	1040	1048	1056	1064	1072	1080	=108(n-1) Starting with 亿, each numeral is 108 (萬乘以萬 (T) or 万乘以万 (S) wàn chéng yǐ wàn, 10000 times 10000) times the previous.
«long scale» (上數)	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 (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 万亿 (wànyì) or 太 (tài, as the translation for tera) instead. Partly due to this, combinations of 万 and 亿 are often used instead of the larger units of the traditional system as well, for example 亿亿 (yìyì) instead of 京. The ROC government in Taiwan uses 兆 (zhào) to mean 10¹² in official documents.

Large numbers from Buddhism[edit]

Numerals beyond 載 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 (T)	Character (S)	Pinyin	Jyutping	Hokkien POJ	Shanghainese	Value	Notes
極	极	jí	gik1	ke̍k	jiq5	1048	Literally means «Extreme».
恆河沙	恒河沙	héng hé shā	hang4 ho4 sa1	hêng-hô-soa	ghen3-wu-so	1052[citation needed]	Literally means «Sands of the Ganges»; a metaphor used in a number of Buddhist texts referring to the grains of sand in the Ganges River.
阿僧祇	ā sēng qí	aa1 zang1 kei4	a-seng-kî	a1-sen-ji	1056	From Sanskrit Asaṃkhyeya असंख्येय, meaning «incalculable, innumerable, infinite».
那由他	nà yóu tā	naa5 jau4 taa1	ná-iû-thaⁿ	na1-yeu-tha	1060	From Sanskrit nayuta नियुत, meaning «myriad».
不可思議	不可思议	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.
無量大數	无量大数	wú liàng dà shù	mou4 loeng6 daai6 sou3	bû-liōng tāi-siàu	m3-lian du3-su	1068	«无量» literally translated as «without measure», and can mean 1068. This word is also commonly used in Chinese as a commendatory term, means «no upper limit». E.g.: 前途无量 lit. front journey no limit, which means «a great future». «大数» literally translated as «a large number; the great number», and can mean 1072.

Small numbers[edit]

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.

Character(s) (T)	Character(s) (S)	Pinyin	Value	Notes
漠	mò	10−12	(Ancient Chinese) 皮 corresponds to the SI prefix pico-.
渺	miǎo	10−11	(Ancient Chinese)
埃	āi	10−10	(Ancient Chinese)
塵	尘	chén	10−9	Literally, «Dust» 奈 (T) or 纳 (S) corresponds to the SI prefix nano-.
沙	shā	10−8	Literally, «Sand»
纖	纤	xiān	10−7	Literally, «Fiber»
微	wēi	10−6	still in use, corresponds to the SI prefix micro-.
忽	hū	10−5	(Ancient Chinese)
絲	丝	sī	10−4	also 秒. Literally, «Thread»
毫	háo	10−3	also 毛. still in use, corresponds to the SI prefix milli-.
厘	lí	10−2	also 釐. still in use, corresponds to the SI prefix centi-.
分	fēn	10−1	still in use, corresponds to the SI prefix deci-.

Small numbers from Buddhism[edit]

Character(s) (T)	Character(s) (S)	Pinyin	Value	Notes
涅槃寂靜	涅槃寂静	niè pán jì jìng	10−24	Literally, «Nirvana’s Tranquility» 攸 (T) or 幺 (S) corresponds to the SI prefix yocto-.
阿摩羅	阿摩罗	ā mó luó	10−23	(Ancient Chinese, from Sanskrit अमल amala)
阿頼耶	阿赖耶	ā lài yē	10−22	(Ancient Chinese, from Sanskrit आलय ālaya)
清靜	清净	qīng jìng	10−21	Literally, «Quiet» 介 (T) or 仄 (S) corresponds to the SI prefix zepto-.
虛空	虚空	xū kōng	10−20	Literally, «Void»
六德	liù dé	10−19	(Ancient Chinese)
剎那	刹那	chà nà	10−18	Literally, «Brevity», from Sanskrit क्षण ksaṇa 阿 corresponds to the SI prefix atto-.
彈指	弹指	tán zhǐ	10−17	Literally, «Flick of a finger». Still commonly used in the phrase «弹指一瞬间» (A very short time)
瞬息	shùn xī	10−16	Literally, «Moment of Breath». Still commonly used in Chengyu «瞬息万变» (Many things changed in a very short time)
須臾	须臾	xū yú	10−15	(Ancient Chinese, rarely used in Modern Chinese as «a very short time») 飛 (T) or 飞 (S) corresponds to the SI prefix femto-.
逡巡	qūn xún	10−14	(Ancient Chinese)
模糊	mó hu	10−13	Literally, «Blurred»

SI prefixes[edit]

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, 京, 垓, 秭, 穰) and smaller Chinese numerals (微, 纖, 沙, 塵, 渺) 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.^[4]

The Republic of China (Taiwan) defined 百萬 as the translation for mega and 兆 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
1024	Y	yotta-			尧	yáo	佑	yòu
1021	Z	zetta-			泽	zé	皆	jiē
1018	E	exa-	穰[4]	ráng	艾	ài	艾	ài
1015	P	peta-	秭[4]	zǐ	拍	pāi	拍	pāi
1012	T	tera-	垓[4]	gāi	太	tài	兆	zhào
109	G	giga-	京[4]	jīng	吉	jí	吉	jí
106	M	mega-	兆[4]	zhào	兆	zhào	百萬	bǎiwàn
103	k	kilo-	千	qiān	千	qiān	千	qiān
102	h	hecto-	百	bǎi	百	bǎi	百	bǎi
101	da	deca-	十	shí	十	shí	十	shí
100	(base)	one			一	yī	一	yī
10−1	d	deci-	分	fēn	分	fēn	分	fēn
10−2	c	centi-	厘	lí	厘	lí	厘	lí
10−3	m	milli-	毫	háo	毫	háo	毫	háo
10−6	µ	micro-	微[4]	wēi	微	wēi	微	wēi
10−9	n	nano-	纖[4]	xiān	纳	nà	奈	nài
10−12	p	pico-	沙[4]	shā	皮	pí	皮	pí
10−15	f	femto-	塵[4]	chén	飞	fēi	飛	fēi
10−18	a	atto-	渺[4]	miǎo	阿	à	阿	à
10−21	z	zepto-			仄	zè	介	jiè
10−24	y	yocto-			幺	yāo	攸	yōu

Reading and transcribing numbers[edit]

Whole numbers[edit]

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 (liǎng) is often used rather than 二 (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 (liǎng) or 二 (èr) are acceptable for the number 200. When writing in the Cantonese dialect, 二 (yi⁶) is used to represent the «2» numeral for all numbers. In the southern Min dialect of Chaozhou (Teochew), 兩 (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]	六十	六十	六十	六十
20	[2] [10] or [20]	二十	二十 or 廿	二十	廿
200	[2] (èr or liǎng) [100]	二百 or 兩百	二百 or 兩百	兩百	兩百
2000	[2] (èr or liǎng) [1000]	二千 or 兩千	二千 or 兩千	兩千	兩千
45	[4] [10] [5]	四十五	四十五 or 卌五	四十五	四十五
2,362	[2] [1000] [3] [100] [6] [10] [2]	兩千三百六十二	二千三百六十二	兩千三百六十二	兩千三百六十二

For the numbers 11 through 19, the leading «one» (一; 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]	十四
12000	[1] [10000] [2] [1000]	一萬兩千	[1] [10000] [2]	一萬二 or 萬二
114	[1] [100] [1] [10] [4]	一百一十四	[1] [100] [10] [4]	一百十四
1158	[1] [1000] [1] [100] [5] [10] [8]	一千一百五十八	See note 1 below

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] (百十四).

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 × wàn (萬) = yì (億). 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)	十二兆三千四百五十六億七千八百九十萬兩千三百四十五	十二兆三千四百五十六亿七千八百九十万二千三百四十五

In Taiwan, pure Arabic numerals are officially always and only grouped by thousands.^[5] 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]	1,234萬5千[6]
123,450,000	(1) [1,0000,0000] (2345) [1,0000]	1億2345萬[7]
12,345	(1) [1,0000] (2345)	1萬2345[8]

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]	二百零五
100,004 (10,0004)	[10] [10,000] [0] [4]	十萬零四
10,050,026 (1005,0026)	(1005) [10,000] (026) or (1005) [10,000] (26)	一千零五萬零二十六 or 一千零五萬二十六

Fractional values[edit]

To construct a fraction, the denominator is written first, followed by 分; fēn; ‘parts’, then the literary possessive particle 之; 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; yòu; ‘and’, then the fractional part.

Fraction	Structure
2⁄3	三 sān 3 分 fēn parts 之 zhī of this 二 èr 2
15⁄32	三 sān 3 十 shí 10 二 èr 2 分 fēn parts 之 zhī of this 十 shí 10 五 wǔ 5
1⁄3000	三 sān 3 千 qiān 1000 分 fēn parts 之 zhī of this 一 yī 1
3 5⁄6	三 sān 3 又 yòu and 六 liù 6 分 fēn parts 之 zhī of this 五 wǔ 5

Percentages are constructed similarly, using 百; bǎi; ‘100’ as the denominator. (The number 100 is typically expressed as 一百; yībǎi; ‘one hundred’, like the English «one hundred». However, for percentages, 百 is used on its own.)

Percentage	Structure
25%	百 bǎi 100 分 fēn parts 之 zhī of this 二 èr 2 十 shí 10 五 wǔ 5
110%	百 bǎi 100 分 fēn parts 之 zhī of this 一 yī 1 百 bǎi 100 一 yī 1 十 shí 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. 十分之一; shí fēnzhī yī, 十分之二; shí fēnzhī èr, etc.) rather than «parts of 100» (or ¹⁰/₁₀₀, ²⁰/₁₀₀, etc. i.e. 百分之十; bǎi fēnzhī shí, 百分之二十; 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 the English «percent». Thus 25% is 二十五趴; èrshíwǔ pā.^{[nb 2]}

Decimal numbers are constructed by first writing the whole number part, then inserting a point (simplified Chinese: 点; traditional Chinese: 點; pinyin: 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 shí 10 六 liù 6 點 diǎn point 九 jiǔ 9 八 bā 8
12345.6789	一 yī 1 萬 wàn 10000 兩 liǎng 2 千 qiān 1000 三 sān 3 百 bǎi 100 四 sì 4 十 shí 10 五 wǔ 5 點 diǎn point 六 liù 6 七 qī 7 八 bā 8 九 jiǔ 9
75.4025	七 七 qī 7 十 十 shí 10 五 五 wǔ 5 點 點 diǎn point 四 四 sì 4 〇 零 líng 0 二 二 èr 2 五 五 wǔ 5
0.1	零 líng 0 點 diǎn point 一 yī 1

半; bàn; ‘half’ functions as a number and therefore requires a measure word. For example: 半杯水; bàn bēi shuǐ; ‘half a glass of water’.

Ordinal numbers[edit]

Ordinal numbers are formed by adding 第; dì («sequence») before the number.

Ordinal	Structure
1st	第 dì sequence 一 yī 1
2nd	第 dì sequence 二 èr 2
82nd	第 dì sequence 八 bā 8 十 shí 10 二 èr 2

The Heavenly Stems are a traditional Chinese ordinal system.

Negative numbers[edit]

Negative numbers are formed by adding fù (负; 負) before the number.

Number	Structure
−1158	負 fù negative 一 yī 1 千 qiān 1000 一 yī 1 百 bǎi 100 五 wǔ 5 十 shí 10 八 bā 8
−3 5/6	負 fù negative 三 sān 3 又 yòu and 六 liù 6 分 fēn parts 之 zhī of this 五 wǔ 5
−75.4025	負 fù negative 七 qī 7 十 shí 10 五 wǔ 5 點 diǎn point 四 sì 4 零 líng 0 二 èr 2 五 wǔ 5

Usage[edit]

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 三个人; 三個人; sān ge rén , «three (ge particle) person», where 个/個 ge is a classifier. There exist many different classifiers, for use with different sets of nouns, although 个/個 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, 三楼/三樓; sān lóu (literally «three story/storey») means «third floor» («second floor» in British § Numbering). Likewise, 二十一世纪/二十一世紀; èrshí yī shìjì (literally «twenty-one century») is used for «21st century».^[9]

Numbers of years are commonly spoken as a sequence of digits, as in 二零零一; èr líng líng yī («two zero zero one») for the year 2001.^[10] Names of months and days (in the Western system) are also expressed using numbers: 一月; yīyuè («one month») for January, etc.; and 星期一; xīngqīyī («week one») for Monday, etc. There is only one exception: Sunday is 星期日; xīngqīrì, or informally 星期天; xīngqītiān, both literally «week day». When meaning «week», «星期» xīngqī and «禮拜; 礼拜» lǐbài are interchangeable. «禮拜天» lǐbàitiān or «禮拜日» lǐbàirì means «day of worship». Chinese Catholics call Sunday «主日» zhǔrì, «Lord’s day».^[11]

Full dates are usually written in the format 2001年1月20日 for January 20, 2001 (using 年; nián «year», 月; yuè «month», and 日; 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[edit]

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: 苏州花码; traditional Chinese: 蘇州花碼; 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[edit]

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[edit]

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 .^[13]

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’s written in Sunzi Suanjing that «one is vertical, ten is horizontal».^[14]

七	一	八	二	四
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, Empress Wǔ promulgated Zetian characters, one of which was «〇». The word is now used as a synonym for the number zero.^{[nb 3]}

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.»^[15]

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[edit]

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[edit]

• Chinese number gestures
• Numbers in Chinese culture
• Chinese units of measurement
• Chinese classifier
• Chinese grammar
• Japanese numerals
• Korean numerals
• Vietnamese numerals
• Celestial stem
• List of numbers in Sinitic languages

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

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

Today, speakers of Chinese 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.^{[citation needed]}

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 to represent numbers[edit]

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.

Standard numbers[edit]

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 (traditional Chinese: 小寫; simplified Chinese: 小写; lit. ‘small writing’), and one for use in commercial, accounting or financial contexts, known as dàxiě (traditional Chinese: 大寫; simplified Chinese: 大写; lit. ‘big writing’). The latter 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.^[1] A forger could easily change the everyday characters 三十 (30) to 五千 (5000) just by adding a few strokes. That would not be possible when writing using the financial characters 參拾 (30) and 伍仟 (5000). They are also referred to as «banker’s numerals», «anti-fraud numerals», or «banker’s anti-fraud numerals». For the same reason, rod numerals were never used in commercial records.

T denotes Traditional Chinese characters, while S denotes Simplified Chinese characters.

Financial	Normal	Value	Pīnyīn (Mandarin)	Jyutping (Cantonese)	Pe̍h-ōe-jī (Hokkien)	Wugniu (Shanghainese)	Notes
Character (T)	Character (S)	Character (T)	Character (S)
零	零	〇	0	líng	ling4	khòng/lêng	lin	Usually 零 is preferred, but in some areas, 〇 may be a more common informal way to represent zero. The original Chinese character is 空 or 〇, 零 is referred as remainder something less than 1 yet not nil [說文] referred. The traditional 零 is more often used in schools. In Unicode, 〇 is treated as a Chinese symbol or punctuation, rather than a Chinese ideograph.
壹	一	1	yī	jat1	it/chi̍t	iq	Also 弌 (obsolete financial), can be easily manipulated into 弍 (two) or 弎 (three).
貳	贰	二	2	èr	ji6	jī/nn̄g	gni/er/lian	Also 弍 (obsolete financial), can be easily manipulated into 弌 (one) or 弎 (three). Also 兩 (T) or 两 (S), see Characters with regional usage section.
參	参	三	3	sān	saam1	sam/saⁿ	sé	Also 弎 (obsolete financial), which can be easily manipulated into 弌 (one) or 弍 (two).
肆	四	4	sì	sei3	sù/sì	sy	Also 䦉 (obsolete financial)[nb 1]
伍	五	5	wǔ	ng5	ngó͘/gō͘	ng
陸	陆	六	6	liù	luk6	lio̍k/la̍k	loq
柒	七	7	qī	cat1	chhit	chiq
捌	八	8	bā	baat3	pat/peh	paq
玖	九	9	jiǔ	gau2	kiú/káu	cieu
拾	十	10	shí	sap6	si̍p/cha̍p	zeq	Although some people use 什 as financial[citation needed], it is not ideal because it can be easily manipulated into 伍 (five) or 仟 (thousand).
佰	百	100	bǎi	baak3	pek/pah	paq
仟	千	1,000	qiān	cin1	chhian/chheng	chi
萬	萬	万	104	wàn	maan6	bān	ve	Chinese numbers group by ten-thousands; see Reading and transcribing numbers below.
億	億	亿	105/108	yì	jik1	ek	i	For variant meanings and words for higher values, see Large numbers below and ja:大字 (数字).

Characters with regional usage[edit]

Financial	Normal	Value	Pinyin (Mandarin)	Standard alternative	Notes
	空	0	kòng	零	Historically, the use of 空 for «zero» predates 零. This is now archaic in most varieties of Chinese, but it is still used in Southern Min.
	洞	0	dòng	零	Literally means «a hole» and is analogous to the shape of «0» and «〇», it is used to unambiguously pronounce «#0» in radio communication. [2][3]
	幺	1	yāo	一	Literally means «the smallest», it is used to unambiguously pronounce «#1» in radio communication. [2][3] This usage is not observed in Cantonese except for 十三幺 (a special winning hand) in Mahjong.
	蜀	1	shǔ	一	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 is often used for both chi̍t and it, but some authors differentiate, writing 蜀 for chi̍t and 一 for it.
	兩(T) or 两(S)	2	liǎng	二	Used instead of 二 before a classifier. For example, «two people» is «两个人», not «二个人». However, in some lects, such as Shanghainese, 兩 is the generic term used for two in most contexts, such as «四十兩» and not «四十二». It appears where «a pair of» would 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 «二千二百二十二», «兩千二百二十二» or even «兩千兩百二十二» in Mandarin. It is used to unambiguously pronounce «#2» in radio communication. [2][3]
	倆(T) or 俩(S)	2	liǎ	兩	In regional dialects of Northeastern Mandarin, 倆 represents a «lazy» pronunciation of 兩 within the local dialect. It can be used as an alternative for 兩个 «two of» (e.g. 我们倆 Wǒmen liǎ, «the two of us», as opposed to 我们兩个 Wǒmen liǎng gè). A measure word (such as 个) never follows after 倆.
	仨	3	sā	三	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.第仨号 dì sā hào, «number three»; 星期仨 xīngqīsā, «Wednesday»), or as an alternative for 三个 «three of» (e.g. 我们仨 Wǒmen sā, «the three of us», as opposed to 我们三个 Wǒmen sān gè). Regardless of usage, a measure word (such as 个) never follows after 仨.
	拐	7	guǎi	七	Literally means «a turn» or «a walking stick» and is analogous to the shape of «7» and «七», it is used to unambiguously pronounce «#7» in radio communication. [2][3]
	勾	9	gōu	九	Literally means «a hook» and is analogous to the shape of «9», it is used to unambiguously pronounce «#9» in radio communication. [2][3]
	呀	10	yà	十	In spoken Cantonese, 呀 (aa6) can be used in place of 十 when it is used in the middle of a number, preceded by a multiplier and followed by a ones digit, e.g. 六呀三, 63; it is not used by itself to mean 10. This usage is not observed in Mandarin.
念	廿	20	niàn	二十	A contraction of 二十. 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 (jaa6) can be used in place of 二十 when followed by another digit such as in numbers 21-29 (e.g. 廿三, 23), a measure word (e.g. 廿個), a noun, or in a phrase like 廿幾 («twenty-something»); it is not used by itself to mean 20. 卄 is a rare variant.
	卅	30	sà	三十	A contraction of 三十. The written form is still used to abbreviate date references in Chinese. For example, May 30 Movement (五卅運動). Spoken form is still used in various dialects of Chinese. In spoken Cantonese, 卅 (saa1) can be used in place of 三十 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	四十	A contraction of 四十. Found in historical writings written in Classical 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 四十 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.
	皕	200	bì	二百	Very rarely used; one example is in the name of a library in Huzhou, 皕宋樓 (Bìsòng Lóu).

Large numbers[edit]

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 number 10,000 (myriad, 萬 wàn) times the previous:

Character (T)	萬	億	兆	京	垓	秭	穰	溝	澗	正	載	Factor of increase
Character (S)	万	亿	兆	京	垓	秭	穰	沟	涧	正	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
Hokkien POJ	bān	ek	tiāu	keng	kai	chí	jiông	ko͘	kàn	chèng	cháiⁿ
Shanghainese	ve	i	zau	cín	ké	tsy	gnian	kéu	ké	tsen	tse
Alternative				經/经		𥝱	壤
Rank	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	=n
«short scale» (下數)	104	105	106	107	108	109	1010	1011	1012	1013	1014	=10n+3 Each numeral is 10 (十 shí) times the previous.
«myriad scale» (萬進, current usage)	104	108	1012	1016	1020	1024	1028	1032	1036	1040	1044	=104n Each numeral is 10,000 (萬 (T) or 万 (S) wàn) times the previous.
«mid-scale» (中數)	104	108	1016	1024	1032	1040	1048	1056	1064	1072	1080	=108(n-1) Starting with 亿, each numeral is 108 (萬乘以萬 (T) or 万乘以万 (S) wàn chéng yǐ wàn, 10000 times 10000) times the previous.
«long scale» (上數)	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 (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 万亿 (wànyì) or 太 (tài, as the translation for tera) instead. Partly due to this, combinations of 万 and 亿 are often used instead of the larger units of the traditional system as well, for example 亿亿 (yìyì) instead of 京. The ROC government in Taiwan uses 兆 (zhào) to mean 10¹² in official documents.

Large numbers from Buddhism[edit]

Numerals beyond 載 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 (T)	Character (S)	Pinyin	Jyutping	Hokkien POJ	Shanghainese	Value	Notes
極	极	jí	gik1	ke̍k	jiq5	1048	Literally means «Extreme».
恆河沙	恒河沙	héng hé shā	hang4 ho4 sa1	hêng-hô-soa	ghen3-wu-so	1052[citation needed]	Literally means «Sands of the Ganges»; a metaphor used in a number of Buddhist texts referring to the grains of sand in the Ganges River.
阿僧祇	ā sēng qí	aa1 zang1 kei4	a-seng-kî	a1-sen-ji	1056	From Sanskrit Asaṃkhyeya असंख्येय, meaning «incalculable, innumerable, infinite».
那由他	nà yóu tā	naa5 jau4 taa1	ná-iû-thaⁿ	na1-yeu-tha	1060	From Sanskrit nayuta नियुत, meaning «myriad».
不可思議	不可思议	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.
無量大數	无量大数	wú liàng dà shù	mou4 loeng6 daai6 sou3	bû-liōng tāi-siàu	m3-lian du3-su	1068	«无量» literally translated as «without measure», and can mean 1068. This word is also commonly used in Chinese as a commendatory term, means «no upper limit». E.g.: 前途无量 lit. front journey no limit, which means «a great future». «大数» literally translated as «a large number; the great number», and can mean 1072.

Small numbers[edit]

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.

Character(s) (T)	Character(s) (S)	Pinyin	Value	Notes
漠	mò	10−12	(Ancient Chinese) 皮 corresponds to the SI prefix pico-.
渺	miǎo	10−11	(Ancient Chinese)
埃	āi	10−10	(Ancient Chinese)
塵	尘	chén	10−9	Literally, «Dust» 奈 (T) or 纳 (S) corresponds to the SI prefix nano-.
沙	shā	10−8	Literally, «Sand»
纖	纤	xiān	10−7	Literally, «Fiber»
微	wēi	10−6	still in use, corresponds to the SI prefix micro-.
忽	hū	10−5	(Ancient Chinese)
絲	丝	sī	10−4	also 秒. Literally, «Thread»
毫	háo	10−3	also 毛. still in use, corresponds to the SI prefix milli-.
厘	lí	10−2	also 釐. still in use, corresponds to the SI prefix centi-.
分	fēn	10−1	still in use, corresponds to the SI prefix deci-.

Small numbers from Buddhism[edit]

Character(s) (T)	Character(s) (S)	Pinyin	Value	Notes
涅槃寂靜	涅槃寂静	niè pán jì jìng	10−24	Literally, «Nirvana’s Tranquility» 攸 (T) or 幺 (S) corresponds to the SI prefix yocto-.
阿摩羅	阿摩罗	ā mó luó	10−23	(Ancient Chinese, from Sanskrit अमल amala)
阿頼耶	阿赖耶	ā lài yē	10−22	(Ancient Chinese, from Sanskrit आलय ālaya)
清靜	清净	qīng jìng	10−21	Literally, «Quiet» 介 (T) or 仄 (S) corresponds to the SI prefix zepto-.
虛空	虚空	xū kōng	10−20	Literally, «Void»
六德	liù dé	10−19	(Ancient Chinese)
剎那	刹那	chà nà	10−18	Literally, «Brevity», from Sanskrit क्षण ksaṇa 阿 corresponds to the SI prefix atto-.
彈指	弹指	tán zhǐ	10−17	Literally, «Flick of a finger». Still commonly used in the phrase «弹指一瞬间» (A very short time)
瞬息	shùn xī	10−16	Literally, «Moment of Breath». Still commonly used in Chengyu «瞬息万变» (Many things changed in a very short time)
須臾	须臾	xū yú	10−15	(Ancient Chinese, rarely used in Modern Chinese as «a very short time») 飛 (T) or 飞 (S) corresponds to the SI prefix femto-.
逡巡	qūn xún	10−14	(Ancient Chinese)
模糊	mó hu	10−13	Literally, «Blurred»

SI prefixes[edit]

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, 京, 垓, 秭, 穰) and smaller Chinese numerals (微, 纖, 沙, 塵, 渺) 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.^[4]

The Republic of China (Taiwan) defined 百萬 as the translation for mega and 兆 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
1024	Y	yotta-			尧	yáo	佑	yòu
1021	Z	zetta-			泽	zé	皆	jiē
1018	E	exa-	穰[4]	ráng	艾	ài	艾	ài
1015	P	peta-	秭[4]	zǐ	拍	pāi	拍	pāi
1012	T	tera-	垓[4]	gāi	太	tài	兆	zhào
109	G	giga-	京[4]	jīng	吉	jí	吉	jí
106	M	mega-	兆[4]	zhào	兆	zhào	百萬	bǎiwàn
103	k	kilo-	千	qiān	千	qiān	千	qiān
102	h	hecto-	百	bǎi	百	bǎi	百	bǎi
101	da	deca-	十	shí	十	shí	十	shí
100	(base)	one			一	yī	一	yī
10−1	d	deci-	分	fēn	分	fēn	分	fēn
10−2	c	centi-	厘	lí	厘	lí	厘	lí
10−3	m	milli-	毫	háo	毫	háo	毫	háo
10−6	µ	micro-	微[4]	wēi	微	wēi	微	wēi
10−9	n	nano-	纖[4]	xiān	纳	nà	奈	nài
10−12	p	pico-	沙[4]	shā	皮	pí	皮	pí
10−15	f	femto-	塵[4]	chén	飞	fēi	飛	fēi
10−18	a	atto-	渺[4]	miǎo	阿	à	阿	à
10−21	z	zepto-			仄	zè	介	jiè
10−24	y	yocto-			幺	yāo	攸	yōu

Reading and transcribing numbers[edit]

Whole numbers[edit]

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 (liǎng) is often used rather than 二 (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 (liǎng) or 二 (èr) are acceptable for the number 200. When writing in the Cantonese dialect, 二 (yi⁶) is used to represent the «2» numeral for all numbers. In the southern Min dialect of Chaozhou (Teochew), 兩 (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]	六十	六十	六十	六十
20	[2] [10] or [20]	二十	二十 or 廿	二十	廿
200	[2] (èr or liǎng) [100]	二百 or 兩百	二百 or 兩百	兩百	兩百
2000	[2] (èr or liǎng) [1000]	二千 or 兩千	二千 or 兩千	兩千	兩千
45	[4] [10] [5]	四十五	四十五 or 卌五	四十五	四十五
2,362	[2] [1000] [3] [100] [6] [10] [2]	兩千三百六十二	二千三百六十二	兩千三百六十二	兩千三百六十二

For the numbers 11 through 19, the leading «one» (一; 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]	十四
12000	[1] [10000] [2] [1000]	一萬兩千	[1] [10000] [2]	一萬二 or 萬二
114	[1] [100] [1] [10] [4]	一百一十四	[1] [100] [10] [4]	一百十四
1158	[1] [1000] [1] [100] [5] [10] [8]	一千一百五十八	See note 1 below

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] (百十四).

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 × wàn (萬) = yì (億). 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)	十二兆三千四百五十六億七千八百九十萬兩千三百四十五	十二兆三千四百五十六亿七千八百九十万二千三百四十五

In Taiwan, pure Arabic numerals are officially always and only grouped by thousands.^[5] 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]	1,234萬5千[6]
123,450,000	(1) [1,0000,0000] (2345) [1,0000]	1億2345萬[7]
12,345	(1) [1,0000] (2345)	1萬2345[8]

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]	二百零五
100,004 (10,0004)	[10] [10,000] [0] [4]	十萬零四
10,050,026 (1005,0026)	(1005) [10,000] (026) or (1005) [10,000] (26)	一千零五萬零二十六 or 一千零五萬二十六

Fractional values[edit]

To construct a fraction, the denominator is written first, followed by 分; fēn; ‘parts’, then the literary possessive particle 之; 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; yòu; ‘and’, then the fractional part.

Fraction	Structure
2⁄3	三 sān 3 分 fēn parts 之 zhī of this 二 èr 2
15⁄32	三 sān 3 十 shí 10 二 èr 2 分 fēn parts 之 zhī of this 十 shí 10 五 wǔ 5
1⁄3000	三 sān 3 千 qiān 1000 分 fēn parts 之 zhī of this 一 yī 1
3 5⁄6	三 sān 3 又 yòu and 六 liù 6 分 fēn parts 之 zhī of this 五 wǔ 5

Percentages are constructed similarly, using 百; bǎi; ‘100’ as the denominator. (The number 100 is typically expressed as 一百; yībǎi; ‘one hundred’, like the English «one hundred». However, for percentages, 百 is used on its own.)

Percentage	Structure
25%	百 bǎi 100 分 fēn parts 之 zhī of this 二 èr 2 十 shí 10 五 wǔ 5
110%	百 bǎi 100 分 fēn parts 之 zhī of this 一 yī 1 百 bǎi 100 一 yī 1 十 shí 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. 十分之一; shí fēnzhī yī, 十分之二; shí fēnzhī èr, etc.) rather than «parts of 100» (or ¹⁰/₁₀₀, ²⁰/₁₀₀, etc. i.e. 百分之十; bǎi fēnzhī shí, 百分之二十; 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 the English «percent». Thus 25% is 二十五趴; èrshíwǔ pā.^{[nb 2]}

Decimal numbers are constructed by first writing the whole number part, then inserting a point (simplified Chinese: 点; traditional Chinese: 點; pinyin: 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 shí 10 六 liù 6 點 diǎn point 九 jiǔ 9 八 bā 8
12345.6789	一 yī 1 萬 wàn 10000 兩 liǎng 2 千 qiān 1000 三 sān 3 百 bǎi 100 四 sì 4 十 shí 10 五 wǔ 5 點 diǎn point 六 liù 6 七 qī 7 八 bā 8 九 jiǔ 9
75.4025	七 七 qī 7 十 十 shí 10 五 五 wǔ 5 點 點 diǎn point 四 四 sì 4 〇 零 líng 0 二 二 èr 2 五 五 wǔ 5
0.1	零 líng 0 點 diǎn point 一 yī 1

半; bàn; ‘half’ functions as a number and therefore requires a measure word. For example: 半杯水; bàn bēi shuǐ; ‘half a glass of water’.

Ordinal numbers[edit]

Ordinal numbers are formed by adding 第; dì («sequence») before the number.

Ordinal	Structure
1st	第 dì sequence 一 yī 1
2nd	第 dì sequence 二 èr 2
82nd	第 dì sequence 八 bā 8 十 shí 10 二 èr 2

The Heavenly Stems are a traditional Chinese ordinal system.

Negative numbers[edit]

Negative numbers are formed by adding fù (负; 負) before the number.

Number	Structure
−1158	負 fù negative 一 yī 1 千 qiān 1000 一 yī 1 百 bǎi 100 五 wǔ 5 十 shí 10 八 bā 8
−3 5/6	負 fù negative 三 sān 3 又 yòu and 六 liù 6 分 fēn parts 之 zhī of this 五 wǔ 5
−75.4025	負 fù negative 七 qī 7 十 shí 10 五 wǔ 5 點 diǎn point 四 sì 4 零 líng 0 二 èr 2 五 wǔ 5

Usage[edit]

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 三个人; 三個人; sān ge rén , «three (ge particle) person», where 个/個 ge is a classifier. There exist many different classifiers, for use with different sets of nouns, although 个/個 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, 三楼/三樓; sān lóu (literally «three story/storey») means «third floor» («second floor» in British § Numbering). Likewise, 二十一世纪/二十一世紀; èrshí yī shìjì (literally «twenty-one century») is used for «21st century».^[9]

Numbers of years are commonly spoken as a sequence of digits, as in 二零零一; èr líng líng yī («two zero zero one») for the year 2001.^[10] Names of months and days (in the Western system) are also expressed using numbers: 一月; yīyuè («one month») for January, etc.; and 星期一; xīngqīyī («week one») for Monday, etc. There is only one exception: Sunday is 星期日; xīngqīrì, or informally 星期天; xīngqītiān, both literally «week day». When meaning «week», «星期» xīngqī and «禮拜; 礼拜» lǐbài are interchangeable. «禮拜天» lǐbàitiān or «禮拜日» lǐbàirì means «day of worship». Chinese Catholics call Sunday «主日» zhǔrì, «Lord’s day».^[11]

Full dates are usually written in the format 2001年1月20日 for January 20, 2001 (using 年; nián «year», 月; yuè «month», and 日; 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[edit]

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: 苏州花码; traditional Chinese: 蘇州花碼; 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[edit]

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[edit]

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 .^[13]

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’s written in Sunzi Suanjing that «one is vertical, ten is horizontal».^[14]

七	一	八	二	四
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, Empress Wǔ promulgated Zetian characters, one of which was «〇». The word is now used as a synonym for the number zero.^{[nb 3]}

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.»^[15]

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[edit]

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[edit]

• Chinese number gestures
• Numbers in Chinese culture
• Chinese units of measurement
• Chinese classifier
• Chinese grammar
• Japanese numerals
• Korean numerals
• Vietnamese numerals
• Celestial stem
• List of numbers in Sinitic languages

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Как и любая часть речи китайского языка, числительные
требуют досконального изучения и практики. Если ехать в эту страну, в любом
случае пригодиться составление чисел, ведь придется обращаться в магазины,
кассы.

Числа в китайском языке руками

Логика и последовательность в написании китайских
цифр-иероглифов есть и очень важно её запомнить. Обратить внимание, что
некоторые чиста могут произносится практически одинаково.

Учить цифры, да еще и так много за раз не так-то и легко.
Давайте немного передохнем, разомнем ручки, а заодно и повторим выученное!

В китайском языке цифры (от одного до десяти) можно
показывать на пальцах.

Китайские цифры иероглифами

Как и буквы, в китайской письменности цифры обозначаются
иероглифами. Для жителей европейских и американских стран это непривычная
система символов. Кроме того, что нужно запомнить, как они правильно пишутся и
выговариваются, учесть, что в китайском языке они не поддаются склонению по
падежам, числам, родам.

Но важны не только китайские иероглифы, но и
их произношение. Счет от одного до десяти с
русской транскрипцией:

• 1 (一) – Ии. Произносится с долгим звуком
  «и»;
• 2 (二) – Ар. Понизьте интонацию, произнося
  звук «р»;
• 3 (三) – Сан. Голос не изменяется;
• 4 (四) – Су. Интонация понижается;
• 5 (五) – Вуу. Вначале понизьте, а потом
  повысьте голос;
• 6 (六) – Лии-йу. Понижение голоса. При
  произношении звук «й» плавно переходит в «у», поэтому почти не слышится;
• 7 (七) – Чии. Голос не изменяется;
• 8 (八) – Баа. Интонация также не меняется.
• 9 (九) – Джии-йуу. Долгий звук «и»,
  аналогично числу 6, переходит в длинное «у». Голос понижается в начале и после
  повышается;
• 10 (十) – Шур. Произносится с постепенным
  повышением голоса.

Нужно запомнить и то, что в Китае есть два вида
числительных. Обычный вид (форма) применяется в повседневном быту китайцев.
Формальная запись применяется в официальных учреждениях: например, в магазинах
(чеки). Цифры в формальной записи – это более усложненный вариант символов.

Если цифра 2 стоит пред счетным словом, необходимо
использовать liǎng вместо èr. Так вы скажете liǎng běn shū (две книги), а не èr
běn shū.

Интересное о цифрах в Китае

Любимые цифры китайцев:

• 1 — означает первенство;
• 6 — созвучна с иероглифом 溜 (顺溜 благоприятно);
• 8 — созвучна с иероглифом 发 （发财 разбогатеть);
• 9 — созвучна с иероглифом 久
  (долгий, вечный).

Положительно относятся они и к 10. Современное изображение и
то, что было раньше, немного отличаются. Сегодня этот иероглиф ассоциируется с
целостностью, завершенностью каких-то дел.

Китайцы не любят и избегают цифру 4. Порой даже в лифте Вы
не увидите 4-ого этажа. Номера мобильных телефонов и машин китайцы также
тщательно выбирают. Они готовы переплатить, лишь бы не встретиться с цифрой 4,
которая созвучна со словом 死— смерть.

Многие слова в китайском языке созвучны с цифрами, поэтому
китайцы частенько используют их в чате или на открытках. Самое популярное среди
молодёжи 520, которое созвучно признанию 我爱你
— я тебя люблю.