China train classes and sleepers: which berth to book

Choose by journey length, not by train speed. If the ride is under about five hours on a G, D or C train, an ordinary second class seat is fine. If it runs overnight, book a berth with a door that closes rather than a seat that reclines. One caveat: "soft sleeper" means different things on a slow K train and on an overnight D train, so check the train number before you pay.

Seats and berths compared

Class	Layout	Privacy	Price
Second class seat (G/D/C)	3+2 across the aisle, comparable to economy on a plane	None	Base fare: ¥662 Beijing–Shanghai
First class seat (G/D/C)	2+2 across, more elbow and leg room	None	About 1.6× second class: ¥1,060 on the same route
Business class seat (G/D/C)	1+1 or 1+2, seats recline to flat	Partitioned, small carriage	3–4× second class
Hard sleeper (Z/T/K)	6 berths in an open bay: two upper, two middle, two lower	No door, bay faces the corridor	Cheapest sleeper
Soft sleeper (Z/T/K, overnight D)	4 berths in a compartment	Lockable door	Roughly 1.5× hard sleeper
Deluxe soft sleeper (some Z and T trains)	2 berths, sofa, private toilet	Lockable door	Roughly 3× hard sleeper

What the ladder costs on one real train

On Z56 from Taiyuan South to Beijing West, a berth is ¥133 upper, ¥138 middle or ¥142 lower in hard sleeper; ¥205 upper or ¥214 lower in soft sleeper; and ¥372 upper or ¥389 lower in deluxe soft sleeper. The deluxe fare is about three times the hard sleeper fare for the same ride, and only a handful of services carry it.

Which berth to take

In hard sleeper the upper is cheapest and quietest, but you cannot sit up in it. The lower costs most and works as everyone's daytime sofa; the middle is the compromise. Soft sleeper has two uppers and two lowers, plus a Western and a squat toilet at the end of the carriage. One ticket buys one bed, so a solo traveller in a soft or deluxe compartment may share with strangers; on deluxe soft sleeper, booking two tickets in one order makes the system prioritise putting you in the same compartment.

Picking your tier when you book

Since 10 June 2023, 12306 has let passengers choose the tier on trains flagged with a yellow 铺 (berth) character beside the train number in search results — upper, middle or lower in hard sleeper, upper or lower in soft sleeper and in D-train sleepers. You choose a tier, never a specific berth number. If the remaining berths cannot match your choice, the system assigns one at random and asks you to accept or cancel. Passengers aged 60 and over get priority for lower berths, and the feature is open to accounts that have passed identity verification or are activated 铁路畅行 members.

Tickets go on sale 15 days before departure on 12306, the only official sales channel, and remain available up to 30 minutes before the train leaves. In peak season, book the day your date opens if you want a particular tier. Your passport is your ticket, so carry the document you booked with to the gate.

If passport verification on 12306 stalls, Trip.com holds the same 12306 inventory in a cleaner English interface for a small per-ticket fee; compare all the main booking sites before you commit.

Last checked: 2026-09-22