About

Chinese numeral encoding follows a multiplicative-additive positional system distinct from the purely positional Arabic notation. A number like 3,052 becomes 三千零五十二 - where each digit is paired with its place-value multiplier (千, 百, 十), and consecutive absent positions collapse into a single 零. Misapplying zero-insertion rules is the most common source of error; for instance, 1,001 requires exactly one 零 (一千零一), not two. Financial documents in China, Taiwan, and Japan mandate formal characters (大写/大寫) such as 壹, 贰, 叁 specifically to prevent fraud through stroke addition - changing 一 to 二 is trivial, changing 壹 to 贰 is not.

This converter handles both directions: Arabic to Chinese and Chinese to Arabic. It supports simplified (简体), traditional (繁體), and formal financial (大写) character sets. Decimal fractions use the 点 convention with digit-by-digit reading. The tool correctly processes numbers from 0 to 9,999,999,999,999,999 (九千九百九十九兆...). Note: the system assumes the mainland Chinese 兆 = 10¹² convention, not the classical 兆 = 10⁶ usage found in some older texts.

Formulas

The Chinese numeral system is multiplicative-additive. Each group of up to four digits is encoded as digit - multiplier pairs, then attached to a section marker.

N = a_兆 × 10¹² + a_亿 × 10⁸ + a_万 × 10⁴ + a_个

Where each section a_section is itself decomposed:

a = d₃ × 1000 + d₂ × 100 + d₁ × 10 + d₀

Zero-insertion rule: if any d_k = 0 and a non-zero digit follows at a lower position, insert exactly one 零. Consecutive zeros never produce multiple 零 characters. Trailing zeros are omitted entirely.

For decimals, the fractional part after 点 is read digit-by-digit: 3.14 → 三点一四. For negative numbers, prefix 负: −5 → 负五.

Where N = the Arabic number, a = four-digit section value, d_k = individual digit at position k within a section.

Reference Data

Arabic	Simplified (简体)	Traditional (繁體)	Financial (大写)	Pinyin
0	零	零	零	líng
1	一	一	壹	yī
2	二	二	贰 / 貳	èr
3	三	三	叁 / 參	sān
4	四	四	肆	sì
5	五	五	伍	wǔ
6	六	六	陆 / 陸	liù
7	七	七	柒	qī
8	八	八	捌	bā
9	九	九	玖	jiǔ
10	十	十	拾	shí
100	百	百	佰	bǎi
1,000	千	千	仟	qiān
10,000	万	萬	萬	wàn
10⁸	亿	億	億	yì
10¹²	兆	兆	兆	zhào
Decimal	点	點	點	diǎn
Negative	负	負	負	fù
2 (amount)	两	兩	贰 / 貳	liǎng
20	二十	二十	贰拾	èr shí
108	一百零八	一百零八	壹佰零捌	yī bǎi líng bā
1,001	一千零一	一千零一	壹仟零壹	yī qiān líng yī
10,500	一万零五百	一萬零五百	壹萬零伍佰	yī wàn líng wǔ bǎi
100,000	十万	十萬	拾萬	shí wàn
1,000,000	一百万	一百萬	壹佰萬	yī bǎi wàn
3.14	三点一四	三點一四	叁點壹肆	sān diǎn yī sì

Frequently Asked Questions

Chinese zero-insertion follows a collapsing rule: any consecutive sequence of zero-value positions produces exactly one 零 character. In 1,001, both the hundreds and tens places are zero, but they collapse into a single 零, yielding 一千零一. This rule applies across all section boundaries.

两 is used before measure words and in colloquial counting contexts (e.g., 两百 for 200 in speech). In formal numeral writing and financial documents, 二 (or its formal variant 贰) is standard. This converter uses 二 for consistency with the written numeral system. The distinction is linguistic rather than mathematical.

The converter supports integers and decimals up to 9,999,999,999,999,999 (九千九百九十九兆九千九百九十九亿九千九百九十九万九千九百九十九). This covers the 兆 (zhào) unit at 10¹². Numbers beyond this exceed standard Chinese numeral vocabulary used in modern mainland convention.

Standard characters like 一, 二, 三 can be altered with minimal stroke additions (一 → 二 → 三, or 十 → 千). Formal characters (壹, 贰, 叁, 拾, 佰, 仟) are structurally complex, making fraudulent modification visually obvious. This system was mandated during the Ming Dynasty and remains legally required on Chinese bank checks, invoices, and contracts.

This is a genuine ambiguity. In classical Chinese and in Japan/Korea today, 兆 = 10⁶ (million). In modern mainland Chinese (PRC standard), 兆 = 10¹² (trillion). This converter follows the PRC convention. If you are working with Japanese (kanji) numbers, the positional values differ above 万.

The character 点 (diǎn, or 點 in traditional) serves as the decimal point. After 点, each digit is read individually without multipliers: 3.14159 becomes 三点一四一五九. This is analogous to reading "three point one four one five nine" in English - positional notation is abandoned after the decimal marker.

In spoken and informal written Chinese, 10 is simply 十 (the leading one is implied). However, in formal and financial contexts, the explicit 一十 (壹拾) is required to prevent ambiguity. This converter outputs the explicit form (一十) by default, which is correct for all contexts including financial use.