Get A China Virtual Phone Number
Running a business today means switching countless communication channels like calls, texts, and more. CallHippo’s business phone system puts everything your team needs in one place. No more calls lost during transfers.
- Connect with Chinese customers using local numbers they actually recognize and trust.
- Cut international calling costs while keeping your customer service looking professional.
- Take Chinese business calls from anywhere using your laptop, tablet, or mobile phone.

What Is A China Virtual Phone Number?
A China virtual phone number is a cloud-based number that lets you make and receive calls like you’re physically in China, but you can be anywhere. It is perfect when you want Chinese customers to see a local +86 number without actually opening an office there.
Search For A China Virtual Phone Number
Buy a virtual Chinese phone number and start building lasting customer relationships from any corner of the globe.
Local
Toll-free
Mobile
What Are The Types of Chinese Virtual numbers?
Different number types work better for different goals. Pick based on whether you’re targeting one city or trying to cover all of China.
- Local Numbers
Get a Chinese phone number with a Beijing (010) or Shanghai (021) area code. Customers in those cities see their own area code when you call them. Works great for businesses focusing on specific regions instead of serving the whole country at once. - National Numbers
A national China virtual number isn’t tied to Beijing, Guangzhou, or any particular city. It covers everywhere in China without looking like you’re based in one specific place. Good for companies wanting to seem established across the country but not needing multiple local numbers yet. - Hosted PBX Solutions
Hosted PBX shifts switching and servers to your provider’s cloud infrastructure. You gain enterprise capabilities without maintaining hardware yourself. This approach makes management easier, boosts reliability, and offers predictable pricing with setup for remote or hybrid teams. - Toll-free Numbers
Get a China toll-free number starting with 400 or 800 so customers can call you for free. It removes the barrier for people who want to ask questions but worry about phone charges. Toll-free typically gets more calls because there’s zero cost to the caller.

What Are the Benefits Of A China Virtual Phone Number?
A virtual Chinese phone number changes how you reach Chinese customers without spending thousands on physical offices or international phone bills.
Chinese customers pick up local numbers. They see +86 and think it's someone nearby. A China virtual number makes you look local instantly.
Renting office space in Shanghai is costly. Hiring local staff adds more. A virtual Chinese phone number saves you thousands of dollars.
When Chinese customers see local numbers, they pick up more often helping your sales team reach more people with a China virtual phone number.
Your China virtual number runs through internet connections on whatever devices your team already uses. Add more numbers when business picks up. Remove them when needed.
Answer Chinese customer calls from anywhere. The mobile app keeps your team available whether they're in the office, at home, or traveling across time zones.
Your New York team takes calls from Shanghai customers at 9 am their time. Forward Chinese calls anywhere and serve China while operating from home.
What Are the Key Features to Look For in a China Virtual Phone Number?
Some China virtual numbers come with features that actually help your team. Others just add complexity you’ll never use. Focus on these practical ones.
Route Chinese calls anywhere. Set rules so calls go to different places at different times. One virtual Chinese phone number reaches your whole team.
Lots of Chinese customers prefer texting quick questions. SMS support on your China virtual phone number means you can text them back without forcing a call.
Send VIP customers to your best agents. Route product questions to sales. Smart routing ensures people reach the right person faster without getting transferred.
Greet callers with an automated menu. Press 1 for sales, 2 for support. IVR in Chinese handles basic sorting so your team is free for manual queries.
Record calls with Chinese customers for training and quality checks. Use real conversations to improve handling of complaints and train new hires.
See which hours get the most Chinese calls. Track response times. Discover which marketing campaigns turn into actual phone conversations.
Get automatic summaries after each Chinese customer call. AI highlights key points and action items. Your team reviews conversations in seconds.
Listen live when new agents talk to Chinese customers. Jump in if they need help. Monitor quality without being physically present.
How To Get A Chinese Virtual Phone Number?
Getting your China virtual number set up takes about 10 minutes with CallHippo once you have your documents ready. The process is simple if you follow these steps.
Create an account with CallHippo to get started. Skip the long forms: you'll be inside a clean dashboard in minutes where you can pick your China virtual phone number, adjust settings, and start taking calls from Chinese customers right away.
Pick what fits your business. Local numbers work for targeting specific cities like Beijing or Guangzhou. Toll-free covers all of China and looks more established. Mobile numbers feel personal for freelancers and small teams. CallHippo helps match the right type to your customer base.
Now customize how calls get handled. Set up call forwarding to your team in London or New York. Add voicemail in Mandarin. Build routing rules so calls reach the right person. You don't need an IT team: everything adjusts through simple toggles and menus.
Pricing
- 1 Free Phone Number
Toll-free number not included.
- Free WhatsApp Business API
- Voicemail
- Click To Dial
- AI Global Connect
Identify phone number's timezone before a call
- SMS (Text messages) & MMS
- Everything in Basic + Telephony
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Unlimited Minutes (Includes Both Landline & Mobile Calling)
Free minutes are shared by all account users. Calling on special and premium numbers are excluded.
- 100 SMS (Text Messages)
Standard A2P charges apply.
- Basic Report Analytics
- Everything in Starter +
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Unlimited Minutes (Includes Both Landline & Mobile Calling)
Free minutes are shared by all account users. Calling on special and premium numbers are excluded.
- 500 SMS (Text Messages)
Standard A2P charges apply.
- Call Recordings
- AI Reports / Analytics
Smart reports that summarize user & call activity.
- Everything in Professional +
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Unlimited Minutes (Includes Both Landline & Mobile Calling)
Free minutes are shared by all account users. Calling on special and premium numbers are excluded.
- 1000 SMS (Text Messages)
Standard A2P charges apply.
- Dedicated Account Manager
- Custom Integrations
- Single Sign On (SSO)
Securely log into multiple apps with one set of credentials.
Regulatory & Compliance Requirements
China’s telecom regulations are stricter than most countries. You can’t just buy a China virtual phone number like a US or UK number. The government controls everything through licensing, data laws, and verification processes that take weeks to navigate properly.
Adherence to Global/Local Regulatory Standards
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) oversees every piece of telecom infrastructure in the country. They don’t allow unlicensed VoIP services to operate at all. Foreign companies can’t directly purchase Chinese virtual numbers without partnering with a licensed Chinese carrier.
Most Chinese virtual phone numbers only work for inbound calls. You can receive calls from Chinese customers, but making outbound calls to China gets blocked or filtered. Chinese carriers also monitor call duration automatically. Legitimate business calls need to last longer than three minutes to avoid getting flagged.
The regulations change without much warning, too, so your provider needs to stay current or your service stops working overnight.
Fully Licensed Operator
Only four state-owned companies hold licenses to provide IP telephony services in China: China Telecom, China Unicom, China Mobile, and China Tietong.. Every other provider claiming to offer Chinese virtual numbers partners with one of these four or operates illegally.
When you sign up with CallHippo or similar services, they’re renting infrastructure from these licensed carriers behind the scenes. This matters because unlicensed operators get shut down fast. Chinese authorities actively monitor telecom services and block unauthorized providers without warning. Check who your provider partners with before committing. Ask specifically which of the four carriers they work through.
Licensed partnerships mean your service stays online and compliant with Chinese law. It also means better call quality since you’re using official carrier infrastructure instead of workarounds that might stop functioning.
Data Storage Compliance
China’s Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) went into effect in 2021 and changed everything about data handling. The law requires all personal information collected from Chinese citizens to be stored on servers physically located inside China. You can’t store Chinese customer data on AWS servers in Virginia or Google Cloud in Singapore.
Critical infrastructure operators, which include telecom services, must pass government security assessments before transferring any data overseas. Even then, transfers need explicit consent and legitimate business reasons. The penalties are massive. Violating PIPL brings fines up to 50 million yuan (about $7 million) or 5% of your annual revenue, whichever is higher. Chinese regulators actively audit foreign companies operating there.
Call recordings, customer phone numbers, and conversation logs all of must live on China-based servers. Ask your provider where they store data and get it in writing.
Business Verification Requirements
Getting a China virtual number requires real documentation, not just an email signup. You’ll need your business license showing your company is legally registered. Chinese authorities want the legal representative’s ID, usually a passport, for foreign companies. You need your company’s official stamp, which is a big deal in Chinese business culture.
Foreign companies face extra steps. All documents need Chinese translations done by certified translators. You often need a local business partner or registered entity in China to complete the application. Some providers handle this by offering nominee services, but that adds complexity and cost. The real-name registration policy applies to everyone. China wants to know exactly who owns each phone number to prevent fraud and maintain control.
Expect the verification process to take 2-4 weeks for foreign businesses, sometimes longer if documents get rejected. Keep copies of everything you submit because you’ll need to update registration annually in most cases.
How to Optimize Your Call Routing for China-Based Customers?
Smart routing makes the difference between Chinese customers getting fast answers or sitting on hold. Time zones, latency, and caller intent all affect how quickly your team connects with people calling your China virtual phone number. Set it up wrong and you lose sales.
Routing Options for Different Time Zones
China is one of the world’s largest consumer markets. It operates on one time zone called China Standard Time (CST, UTC+8) across the entire country, even though it spans five geographic time zones. Forward calls from your China virtual phone number to your Shanghai office from 9 am-6 pm CST. After 6 pm Beijing time, route calls to your London team, who’s just starting their workday.
Then, from midnight to 9 am CST, send calls to your US East Coast team. This creates 24-hour coverage without forcing anyone to work night shift.
Test your routing by calling your own number at different times to make sure calls land where you expect. Check monthly reports to see when most calls come in and adjust staffing to match those peak hours.
Using Smart Routing to Reduce Latency
Call quality on China phone numbers depends heavily on where your provider’s servers live. The Great Firewall of China adds delays and packet loss when routing through foreign infrastructure. If your calls route through servers in the US or Europe, expect 250-400ms of latency. That creates awkward pauses where people talk over each other.
One market entry strategy: Partner with providers who maintain servers physically inside mainland China. This drops latency to under 50ms, which feels like a normal phone conversation. Use providers who peer directly with Chinese carriers instead of routing through third-party networks. Direct peering means fewer hops between the caller and your team.
Some providers offer multiple routing paths; if the primary route has issues, calls automatically switch to a backup path. Monitor your call quality metrics weekly. Look for average latency, jitter, and packet loss rates.
Routing Based on Customer Intent or IVR Selection
Set up your IVR menu in Mandarin Chinese so customers understand their options immediately. When someone calls your virtual Chinese phone number, they hear “Press 1 for sales, Press 2 for technical support, Press 3 for billing questions” in their native language. Each selection triggers different routing rules. You can get more sophisticated with sub-menus, too.
Under sales, add options like “Press 1 for new customers, Press 2 for existing accounts.” This pre-qualifies callers before anyone picks up. Your team knows exactly what type of conversation to expect based on the routing path. Track which menu options get used most. IVR data shows where customers need help most, so you can adjust resources accordingly.
Using Caller History to Route Calls Intelligently
Your system should remember every customer who calls your local Chinese number. When someone calls back, check their history and route them to the same agent who helped them last time. This builds relationships. Customers hate explaining their situation repeatedly to different people.
Set VIP routing rules based on purchase history or account value. Tag callers based on their history, too. Customers who buy monthly get a different routing than annual contract holders. Track metrics like “calls to resolution”, how many times someone needs to call before their issue gets solved. High numbers mean your routing isn’t getting people to the right expert fast enough.
Use Cases for a China Virtual Number in Different Industries
Different industries use local China numbers in specific ways. E-commerce needs fast support, travel companies handle bookings, sales teams track campaigns, and tech support solves technical problems. Here’s how real businesses use Chinese virtual numbers to serve customers better.
E-Commerce & Customer Support
Online sellers on Taobao and Tmall use China virtual phone numbersso Chinese shoppers can call about orders without international charges. When someone in Shenzhen orders your electronics, they see a local phone number printed on the shipping confirmation. They call to ask when the delivery arrives or how to return a damaged item. This works especially well for drop-shippers and international brands entering the Chinese market.
Your support team doesn’t need to relocate to Shanghai. They can handle calls remotely using your virtual Chinese phone number. Track common questions to build better FAQ pages. If 50 calls per day ask about shipping times, that’s a clear signal to add tracking information to your order emails.
E-commerce businesses also use multiple numbers to A/B test customer service response times. One number routes to your fastest agents, another to your standard team. Compare conversion rates and reorder rates between the two groups to see if faster support actually increases customer lifetime value.
Travel & Hospitality
Hotels, resorts, and tour companies outside China use virtual Chinese phone numbers to capture bookings from Chinese travelers. Hotels in Bali list a Beijing +86 number on Ctrip and Mafengwo travel sites. Chinese tourists planning their vacation see a familiar local number and feel comfortable calling to ask about airport transfers, meal options, or booking multiple rooms for family trips. They’re way more likely to call a local number than an Indonesian international number that costs money.
Airlines and cruise lines use these numbers for Chinese customer service lines instead of a physical phone line. When someone in Shanghai wants to change their flight or upgrade their cabin, they call a Chinese number that routes to your call center in Manila or Mumbai. Travel agencies also track which online ads generate phone bookings by using different China virtual phone numbers for different marketing campaigns.
Sales & Lead Generation
B2B companies running ads on Baidu or WeChat use tracking numbers to measure which campaigns actually generate sales calls. You create five different virtual Chinese phone numbers: one for each ad campaign. Your Baidu search ads show one number, your WeChat Moments ads show another, your industry website shows a third. When leads call, your system automatically tags which campaign they came from. This tells you exactly where to spend more marketing budget.
Software companies selling to Chinese enterprises need local numbers because procurement managers won’t call international numbers for vendor inquiries. Real estate companies use china virtual numbers when selling properties to Chinese investors.
A condo development in Vancouver lists a Beijing number so investors in China can call to ask about floor plans, pricing, and investment returns. The developer’s sales team answers these calls from their Vancouver office without the buyer knowing. Lead response time matters hugely in sales. Set up immediate routing instead of traditional phone lines so calls get answered within 30 seconds during Chinese business hours.
Tech / SaaS Support
Software companies offering products to Chinese enterprise customers need local support numbers, or they lose deals. When IT managers at companies like ByteDance or Xiaomi evaluate your SaaS product, they check if you offer local language support with a Chinese contact number. No local number means you’re not serious about the Chinese market. Set up your China virtual phone number to route technical support calls to engineers who speak Mandarin.
SaaS companies also use these numbers for onboarding calls with new Chinese customers. After someone signs up for your project management software, call them using your virtual Chinese phone number to walk through setup. This personal touch increases activation rates significantly. For enterprise contracts, having a local support number becomes a requirement during procurement. Chinese companies want guaranteed response times and local contact options written into their service level agreements.
Get Started with a Business Phone System You Can Trust
Learn how to quickly buy your virtual business phone number with CallHippo and hear from satisfied customer about how we improved their communication and customer experience.
“Thanks to the CallHippo team, we were able to resolve a tough issue with flagged phone numbers. As an EdTech startup, outbound calls are crucial for us. CallHippo’s solution not only improved our attestation score but also improved our answer rates and overall customer experience.”
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes, but the options are limited. China Telecom and China Unicom offer eSIM for some plans. Foreign eSIM providers cannot operate Chinese numbers legally without partnering with licensed carriers first.
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Yes, foreigners can get Chinese phone numbers through virtual number providers like CallHippo. They will need business documentation and possibly a local partner. Physical SIM cards require being in China with your passport.