You’re dealing with a new animal here: for the longest time possible, the notion of expressway numbers seemed quite an extraterrestrial one for the Middle Kingdom (outside of Shanghai, which experimented with something like that from 2001 to 2009). Whereas you could finish the I-66 in the States, in China, you’d have to stick with weird-sounding names such as the Jingjintang Expressway. All that Jing-ing along got your tongue mightily stuck — and remember, in China, we have four intonations. Get the tone wrong, and you’re headed for the middle of nowhere!
Beginning in late 2009, the Chinese Ministry of Transport unveiled a mega-project to give all expressways (also termed freeways) a unified name and, more importantly, a number. This being China, we speak a different tongue, so rather than having A-level freeways, our prefixes involve more the letters G and S than other letters.
The new Chinese expressway signs with the numbers in them will look a little busy. For expat drivers, remember you’re just looking at the letters G or S, plus numbers after the letter.
G1 (China National Expressway 1): The Beijing-Harbin (Jingha) Expressway
Also remember that the Chinese expressways will have 1, 2 or 4 numbers after the G or S and will appear in three colours (white and green, plus red or orange-yellow).
- 1 or 2 numbers: Regular expressway
- (3 numbers: Regular highway, not expressway!)
- 4 numbers: Expressway branch or city ring
The only bit where you might go wrong are with the prefixes. Just remember:
- G = National expressway
- S = Regional (provincial) expressway — these will, most often, not cross provincial borders with the same number
NATIONAL EXPRESSWAYS
National expressways are the easiest to remember:
- G1 – G9 (up to G7 presently): Expressways from, or to, Beijing
- G10-G90 where last digit is EVEN: West-east expressway
- G11-G89 where last digit is ODD: North-south expressway
- G91-G99: Regional (not city) ring expressway (G99 is supposed to be the “Taiwan Ring”, according to the way Beijing imagines it)
REGIONAL (PROVINCIAL) EXPRESSWAYS
These are incredibly more complex. Some provinces or municipalities (like Tianjin) have decided to follow the national standard, while others (like nearby Beijing) use totally random numbering. For example, the Beijing S50 is a ringway, but the S51 is an airport link. Say what?
CHINA’S SEVEN MOST IMPORTANT EXPRESSWAYS
(This section is being finalized. Some content may be missing.)
This being China, everything related to the capital have got to be key. Here goes: expressways G1 to G7, the seven “must-know” expressways:
- G1 (Jingha; Beijing-Harbin): Beijing – Hebei (Xianghe) – Tianjin (Baodi) – Hebei (Tangshan – Beidaihe – Qinhuangdao – Shanhaiguan) – Liaoning (Suizhong – Huludao – Jinzhou – Panjin – Liaozhong – Shenyang – Tieling) – Jilin (Siping – Changchun) – Heilongjiang (Harbin)
- G2 (Jinghu; Beijing-Shanghai): Beijing – Hebei (Langfang) – Tianjin (Yangliuqing) – Hebei (Cangzhou) – Shandong (Dezhou – Ji’nan – Laicheng – Linyi) – Jiangsu (Huai’an – Yangzhou Jiangdu – Jiangyin – Wuxi – Suzhou – Kunshan) – Shanghai