Editing Chinese numerals (section)

{{Short description|Characters used to denote numbers in Chinese}}
{{Numeral systems|expand=Place-value notation|expand2=East Asian systems}}

'''Chinese numerals''' are words and characters used to denote [[number]]s in [[written Chinese]].

Today, speakers of Chinese languages use three written [[numeral system]]s: the system of [[Arabic numerals]] used worldwide, and two indigenous systems. The more familiar indigenous system is based on [[Chinese characters]] that correspond to [[numeral (linguistics)|numerals in the spoken language]]. These may be shared with other languages of the [[Chinese cultural sphere]] such as [[Korean numerals|Korean]], [[Japanese numerals|Japanese]], and [[Vietnamese numerals|Vietnamese]]. Most people and institutions in China primarily use the Arabic or mixed Arabic-Chinese systems for convenience, with traditional Chinese numerals used in finance, mainly for writing amounts on cheques, banknotes, some ceremonial occasions, some boxes, and on commercials.
{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

The other indigenous system consists of the [[Suzhou numerals]], or ''huama'', a positional system, the only surviving form of the [[rod numerals]]. These were once used by Chinese mathematicians, and later by merchants in Chinese markets, such as those in [[Hong Kong]] until the 1990s, but were gradually supplanted by Arabic numerals.