Embassy Contacts in China: Phone Numbers & Addresses

If you lose your passport, get arrested, end up in the hospital, or have a family emergency back home, your embassy or consulate is who you call. This page is a directory you can save and act on: phone numbers, addresses, and after-hours emergency lines for the embassies and consulates most foreign visitors to China actually need. We focus on the missions covering the largest groups of travelers — the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Japan, and India — plus how the consular district system works, so you know which office to contact from wherever you are.

Embassy contact details and office hours change. Treat the numbers below as a starting point and confirm the current details on the official site we link for each country before you rely on them.

Before You Read the List: How to Use It

A few things worth understanding up front, because they save time when you're stressed.

• Embassy vs. consulate. An embassy sits in Beijing, the capital, and handles diplomatic relations plus consular services for its region. Consulates general are in other major cities (Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and so on) and serve a specific set of provinces — their consular district. You generally contact the office responsible for the city or province you're in, not whichever one is closest on the map.
• Most emergency lines are for that country's citizens. If you're American, the US line helps you; it won't help a British traveler. Contact your own country's mission.
• "Emergency" has a narrow meaning. After-hours lines exist for genuine crises — arrest, serious accident, death of a traveler, lost passport when you're about to fly. Routine questions wait for office hours.
• Many missions are appointment-only. You usually can't just walk in. Call or check the website to book.

United States

The US has an embassy in Beijing and consulates general in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang, and Wuhan. A single after-hours emergency line covers all five posts.

After-hours emergency line (all five US posts): +86-10-8531-4000. From inside the US, citizens needing help can call +1-888-407-4747; from outside the US, +1-202-501-4444, both available 24/7. Full details and the latest alerts are on the US Embassy China emergency contacts page.

United Kingdom

The UK has its embassy in Beijing and consulates general in cities including Shanghai and Guangzhou. Public access in Beijing is by appointment only.

The official starting point for British nationals is the British Embassy Beijing page on GOV.UK, which routes consular help and lists the current emergency contact methods. The phone numbers above come from travel directories rather than a single official listing, so verify them on GOV.UK before relying on them.

Canada

Canada operates an embassy in Beijing and consulates general in Shanghai and Chongqing, among others.

After-hours emergencies: Canada's Emergency Watch and Response Centre in Ottawa operates 24/7 — call collect +1-613-996-8885 (TTY +1-613-944-1310). The official directory is on Travel.gc.ca.

Australia

Australia's embassy is in Beijing. Note that the Consulate-General in Shenyang has closed; those consular and notarial services are now handled through the Beijing embassy.

24-hour Consular Emergency Centre: within Australia 1300 555 135; outside Australia +61 2 6261 3305. You can also call the Beijing embassy on +86-10-5140-4111 and press 1. Australia maintains consulates-general in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu as well; confirm current details on the Australian Embassy China contact page.

Germany

Germany has an embassy in Beijing and consulates general in Shanghai, Guangzhou (Kanton), Chengdu, and Hong Kong.

The official source is the German Embassy Beijing site. The consulate phone numbers come from a regional directory and should be reconfirmed before use.

France

France runs an embassy in Beijing plus six consulates-general — in Chengdu, Guangzhou (Canton), Shanghai, Shenyang, Wuhan, and Hong Kong.

24/7 consular emergency line (extreme urgency only): +86-137-0107-8733. For the right consulate covering your province and current opening hours, see the French Embassy Beijing site (in French).

Japan

Japan's embassy is in Beijing, with consulates-general in several major cities. The details below come from a government directory that may be dated, so reverify the consular section number and address on the embassy's official site.

India

India maintains an embassy in Beijing and consular posts that include Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.

The official site is the Embassy of India, Beijing. The emergency numbers are strictly for genuine distress outside office hours.

Other Nationalities

This list covers the largest groups of visitors, but most countries with significant ties to China keep an embassy in Beijing and at least one consulate in Shanghai or Guangzhou. If your country isn't listed — South Korea, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Singapore, Malaysia, Russia, and many others all have missions here — the fastest way to find current contacts is to search "[your country] embassy China" and use the official government domain (typically ending in .gov, .gouv, .go.kr, or your national equivalent). Save both the Beijing embassy number and the consulate covering the city you'll spend the most time in.

When and How to Contact Your Embassy

Embassies handle a specific set of problems for travelers. Knowing what they will and won't do prevents wasted time.

Things your embassy can help with

• Issuing an emergency travel document or replacement passport if yours is lost or stolen
• Visiting and providing a list of local lawyers if you're arrested or detained
• Contacting family and helping arrange funds in a crisis
• Providing guidance after a serious accident, hospitalization, or the death of a traveling companion
• Help during large-scale emergencies or natural disasters

Things your embassy generally won't do

• Pay your hotel, medical, legal, or travel bills
• Get you out of jail or override Chinese law
• Investigate crimes (that's the police) or act as your travel agent
• Hold or forward your mail and luggage

If You Lose Your Passport

This is the single most common reason travelers contact their embassy in China, so it's worth knowing the order of steps. According to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs guidance on reporting a lost passport, the process runs in this sequence:

1. Report to the local police / Public Security Bureau (公安局, Gōng'ānjú) immediately to get a loss report receipt (报警回执, bàojǐng huízhí).
2. Get a Confirmation of Reporting the Loss of Passport from the local PSB Exit & Entry Administration.
3. Apply for a new passport or emergency travel document at your own embassy or consulate.
4. Complete residence/visa procedures within 30 days — you'll need a new visa or residence permit stamped in the replacement passport before you can legally leave.

We have a dedicated walkthrough on this — see the related reading below.

Quick Checklist Before You Travel

• Save your own country's Beijing embassy number and the consulate covering your main destination.
• Save the 24-hour consular emergency line — it's different from the daytime switchboard.
• Photograph your passport's photo page and visa, and store copies in your email and phone.
• Note China's emergency numbers: police 110, fire 119, ambulance 120.
• If you're going to multiple cities, check which consular district each one falls under.
• Register with your government's traveler program if it offers one (e.g., STEP for US citizens).

The Bottom Line

Most trips to China never involve a single call to an embassy. But the few situations where you'd need one — a stolen passport, an arrest, a medical crisis, a death in the family — are exactly the moments when you don't want to be hunting for a phone number. Save your embassy's Beijing line, the consulate for your destination city, and the 24-hour emergency number now, while it's easy. Verify them against the official sites linked above, since details change. And remember the order of operations for a lost passport: police first, then PSB, then your embassy, then the visa transfer. A few minutes of preparation turns a potential disaster into a manageable inconvenience.

Last updated: June 2026