Travelling as a group
In short
One child travels free with each paying adult, and only one. 12306 publishes two tests for who qualifies: under 1.2 metres by height, or under 6 by age since January 2023. Every further child buys a child ticket at half the seat fare. Adults get 20 kg of free luggage and children 10 kg, and a folding wheelchair sits outside the allowance entirely.
Open the rail guideApplies to
Families booking China Railway tickets on a foreign passport, and anyone travelling with a wheelchair, a guide dog, a pushchair or more bags than hands.
Check before you rely on it
All of this was read off the 12306 English FAQ on July 25, 2026. The height test and the age test both appear there and they do not sort every child the same way, so a tall five-year-old is a real risk. Station-level assistance is described as available at some large stations only.
Review date: 2026-07-25
The train is not the hard part. Counting tickets correctly at the booking screen is, and so is knowing what the station will and will not do for you when you arrive.
12306 English FAQ · read July 25, 2026
Both of these tests are on the operator's own page. They are not the same test, and the FAQ does not say which one the gate applies.
| Test | Free | Child ticket | Full price |
|---|---|---|---|
| By height | Under 1.2 m — one such child free per accompanying adult | 1.2 m to 1.5 m — child ticket | Over 1.5 m — full-price seat ticket |
| By age, from January 1, 2023 | Under 6 — one such child per paying adult, free child ticket with no reserved seat | Over 6 and under 14 — child discount ticket | Over 14 — full-price ticket |
Whichever test applies, only one qualifying child travels free with each adult. Two adults and three toddlers buy one child ticket.
Source: China Railway 12306 — China Railway 12306 English FAQ, Miscellaneous (read July 25, 2026)
Before you book
Luggage
Weight per passenger, and a separate limit on any single item. Both are checkable before you pack.
| Free cabin luggage, adult | 20 kg |
|---|---|
| Free cabin luggage, child | 10 kg, including a child travelling free |
| Free cabin luggage, diplomat | 35 kg |
| Largest single item, high-speed (EMU) train | 130 cm total dimension |
| Largest single item, conventional train | 160 cm total dimension, 200 cm for rod-shaped items |
| Heaviest single item, any train | 20 kg |
| Folding wheelchair for a passenger with a disability | Outside the allowance entirely |
Source: China Railway 12306 — China Railway 12306 English FAQ, Miscellaneous (read July 25, 2026)
Children
Fares, berths, whose document the booking sits on, and the one thing a child cannot do at all.
If more than one child qualifies as free, only one of them travels free with each adult. The others buy a child ticket. A family with two adults and three small children buys one child ticket.
Source: China Railway 12306 — China Railway 12306 English FAQ, Miscellaneous (read July 25, 2026)
Children are not allowed to take the train alone in principle. They have to be accompanied by an adult with full capacity for civil conduct.
Source: China Railway 12306 — China Railway 12306 English FAQ, Miscellaneous (read July 25, 2026)
Child tickets are 50% of the total of the seat ticket and the other published subsidiary tickets. The seat type has to match the accompanying adult's, and the child's destination cannot be farther than the adult's.
Source: China Railway 12306 — China Railway 12306 English FAQ, Miscellaneous (read July 25, 2026)
A child may share a berth with an adult who has bought a sleeping berth ticket. A child travelling free or on a child ticket who uses a berth alone has to buy a full-price berth ticket, plus a half-price air-conditioning ticket where the train is air-conditioned.
Source: China Railway 12306 — China Railway 12306 English FAQ, Miscellaneous (read July 25, 2026)
Children with a valid identity document are added to My Passengers on 12306. For a child without one, the accompanying adult's identity information is used to buy the child ticket, and the child ticket sits under the same order as the adult's.
Source: China Railway 12306 — China Railway 12306 English FAQ, Ticketing (read July 25, 2026)
A valid identity document can hold only one ticket for the same train on the same travel date. The exception published is exactly the child case above.
Source: China Railway 12306 — China Railway 12306 English FAQ, Ticketing (read July 25, 2026)
Assisted travel
The operator's own wording is careful, and it is reproduced carefully here. Some stations, not all, and you are told to ask.
In some large stations there are service counters giving priority on ticket purchase, entering the station, boarding and luggage check-in to the elderly, infants and children, the sick, the disabled and pregnant passengers. Some stations also provide wheelchair services. 12306 tells passengers to consult the station for details rather than assume the service exists.
Source: China Railway 12306 — China Railway 12306 English FAQ, Miscellaneous (read July 25, 2026)
Foldable wheelchairs used by people with disabilities are not counted inside the free cabin luggage allowance, so the chair does not eat into the 20 kg.
Source: China Railway 12306 — China Railway 12306 English FAQ, Miscellaneous (read July 25, 2026)
Live animals are on the prohibited list for trains and stations, with guide dogs explicitly excluded from that prohibition. A passenger travelling with a guide dog waits for inspection together with the dog at the security check.
Source: China Railway 12306 — China Railway 12306 English FAQ, Miscellaneous (read July 25, 2026)
All passengers and the belongings they carry go through security. Bags go through dangerous-goods inspection and people through a security gate, and a queue can form at the ticket window, the security check, the identity verification counter, the ticket gate and the baggage consignment counter.
Source: China Railway 12306 — China Railway 12306 English FAQ, Miscellaneous (read July 25, 2026)
In a flight delay or cancellation, carriers, sales agents and ground handling agents have to give priority to disabled persons, senior citizens, pregnant passengers, unaccompanied minors and others needing special care. On an oversold flight, boarding priority rules have to consider senior, young, sick, disabled and pregnant passengers.
Article 30, source: Civil Aviation Administration of China / Ministry of Transport — Provisions on the Administration of Flight Regularity (source dated 2016-05-20; read July 25, 2026)
Not published
A family that gets this wrong finds out at a gate, with bags. Here is exactly where the operator's page stops.
In short
Child fares by height and by age, booking a child with no passport, wheelchairs, guide dogs, and the luggage allowance.
One child travels free with each accompanying adult, and only one. 12306 publishes two tests for who counts: by height, a child under 1.2 m is free, 1.2 m to 1.5 m needs a child ticket and over 1.5 m a full-price seat ticket. By age, from January 1, 2023, a child under 6 travels free with no reserved seat, 6 to 14 needs a discount child ticket, and over 14 a full-price ticket. Every additional child beyond the one free child per adult buys a ticket.
A child ticket is 50% of the total of the seat ticket and the other published subsidiary tickets. Two conditions come with it: the seat class has to be the same as the accompanying adult's, and the child's destination cannot be farther than the adult's. A child who occupies a sleeping berth on their own pays the full berth fare instead, plus a half-price air-conditioning ticket on an air-conditioned train.
Yes. On 12306, a child with a valid identity document is added to My Passengers and booked on it. For a child without one, the accompanying adult's identity information is used to buy the child ticket, and the child ticket sits under the same order as the adult's. That is the published exception to the rule that one document can hold only one ticket per train per day.
No, not in principle. 12306 states that children are not allowed to take the train alone and have to be accompanied by an adult with full capacity for civil conduct.
At some. 12306 states that some large stations have service counters giving priority on ticket purchase, station entry, boarding and luggage check-in to the elderly, infants and children, the sick, the disabled and pregnant passengers, and that some stations also provide wheelchair services. It tells passengers to consult the station for details, which is the honest version: ask your specific station rather than assume.
No. Foldable wheelchairs used by people with disabilities sit outside the free cabin luggage allowance, so the chair does not use up any of the 20 kg an adult passenger gets.
Yes. Live animals are prohibited on trains and in stations, and guide dogs are explicitly excluded from that prohibition. At the security check the passenger waits for inspection together with the dog.
The free cabin allowance is 20 kg for an adult, 10 kg for a child including a child travelling free, and 35 kg for a diplomat. No single item may weigh more than 20 kg. The size limit is 130 cm total dimension on a high-speed (EMU) train and 160 cm on a conventional train, with 200 cm allowed for rod-shaped items on conventional trains.
Refund and change ladders, the document checked at the gate, and what station security takes off you.
Open rail guideCarriers have to give priority to passengers who need special care, and that rule has a source too.
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