What converts exactly, and what doesn't
Provinces, cities and districts are matched against the official list of Chinese administrative divisions, so Nanshan District, Shenzhen becomes 深圳市南山区 with the right characters. Generic words are translated back too: Road becomes 路, Building becomes 栋, Room becomes 室.
Road names, estate names and building names are different. Pinyin records the sound, not the characters, and many characters share a sound: Keyuan could be 科苑, 科园 or 柯源. Guessing would put the wrong name on your parcel, so these names stay as written and are listed under the result.
How to find the Chinese road name
- Ask the recipient to send the address in Chinese. It takes them ten seconds.
- Search the district plus the pinyin in a Chinese map app such as Amap (高德地图) or Baidu Maps. Both understand pinyin and show the characters.
- If the address came from a shop or hotel website, switch the site to Chinese; the full Chinese address is usually there.
Questions
Do I need the Chinese address to send a parcel to China?
It helps a lot. International carriers read the English address, but once the parcel is in China it is delivered by local couriers who work from the Chinese version. Use "Copy bilingual label" to get both on one label.
Is the partly converted address still useful?
Yes. The province, city and district decide which sorting centre and delivery station the parcel goes to, and those are exact. The road name in pinyin is often enough for a courier to find the street, but a fully Chinese address is safer.
Does it work for Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan?
Not yet. These regions use their own official English names, which don't map back through pinyin.