Mandarin numbers up to 9,999 follow the same basic pattern as English numbers, but numbers 10,000 and higher are quite different.
The Chinese character for 10,000 is 萬/万 (traditional/simplified), pronounced wàn. Any number from 10,000 up to 100,000,000 is constructed by the following pattern:
number of 10,000s
number of 1,000s
number of 100s
number of tens
number of ones
If there is a zero in the hundreds, tens, or ones place, it is replaced by 零 líng. If there are a series of zeros, as in 21,001, they are replaced by a single 零 líng.
Examples of Large Numbers
Audio files are marked with ►
58,697
►wǔ wàn bā qiān liù bǎi jiǔ shí qī
五萬八千六百九十七
五万八千六百九十七
950,370
►jiǔ shí wǔ wàn sān bǎi qī shí
九十五萬三百七十
九十五万三百七十
1,025,658
►yī bǎi ling èr wàn wǔ qiān liù bǎi wǔ shí bā
一百零二萬五千六百五十八
一百零二万五千六百五十八
21,652,300
►liǎng qiān yī bǎi liù shí wǔ wàn liǎng qiān sān bǎi
兩千一百六五萬兩千三百
两千一百六五万两千三百
97,000,000
►jiǔ qiān qī bǎi wàn
九千七百萬
九千七百万
Even Larger
One-hundred million in Mandarin Chinese is 億/亿 (►yì). It can also be expressed as 萬萬/万万 (wàn wàn).
Following are the series of numbers larger than one-hundred million. Each number is 10,000 times larger than the previous one.
垓/兆 zhào 1012
京 jīng 1016
垓 gāi 1020
秭 zǐ 1024
穰 ráng 1028
溝/沟 gōu 1032
澗/涧 jiàn 1036
正 zhēng 1040
載/载 zài 1044
