Chinese shoe size chart: why a Chinese 42 isn't always an EU 42

In short

China's current standard, GB/T 43293-2022, in force since 1 May 2023, gives shoe size as foot length in millimetres (脚长). A 260 is a 26 cm foot. To get to EU, the international standard ISO 19407 starts from the same length: EU = 0.15 × length in mm + 2. So a 260 mm foot is an EU 41.

The catch is the everyday “码”. It comes from China's older system: double the foot length in cm and subtract 10. 26 cm gives 42 码. So a Chinese 42 can be an EU 41. On Yupoo, though, sellers almost always list European-style sizes, most often 36 to 45.

What to do: measure your foot in millimetres, find your row in the chart below, then compare with the seller's chart. If you're between two sizes, go for the bigger one.

Chinese shoe size conversion chart (mm, 码, EU, US, UK)

Each row starts from foot length, just like the Chinese standard. The EU and UK columns use the ISO 19407 formulas (EU = 0.15 × mm + 2; UK = 3 × mm ÷ 25.4 − 23), rounded up to the next half size: between two sizes, the bigger one is the safer pick. ISO's own tables round to the nearest half size instead, so they can differ by half a size. US men's = UK + 1. The 码 column uses the old Chinese formula (cm × 2 − 10).

In the US there are two scales for women: one adds 1 to the men's size, the other adds 1.5. That's why you see two values. Treat these numbers as a starting point: charts published by manufacturers are often half a size off, because each one rounds its own way. For a quick conversion you can also use Chinese size converter.

码, 脚长, 号: what a Chinese shoe size actually means

China has changed systems several times. According to Chinese Wikipedia, the old system from the 1960s went up 5 mm per size, with numbers close to EU sizes but not the same thing. In 1982, the GB 3293-82 standard switched to foot length in centimetres, with the rule: new number = (old number + 10) ÷ 2. That's where the “cm × 2 − 10” shortcut comes from.

In 1998, GB/T 3293.1-1998 adopted Mondopoint: foot length and width in millimetres. It was replaced on 1 May 2023 by GB/T 43293-2022, published on 12 October 2022 and covering all types of footwear. According to Bureau Veritas, the new standard keeps Mondopoint: a Chinese shoe size must show at least the foot length in mm, with width and shoe type optional. Labels made under the old standard are still valid.

• 250 or 25: a 25 cm foot. You'll see both, in mm or in cm.
• 42 码: everyday usage. With the old-system formula, 42 = a 26 cm foot, which is EU 41 according to ISO 19407.
• 脚长 (jiǎocháng): foot length. If a seller's chart has this column, that's the one to compare with your measurement.
• The bigger the foot, the bigger the gap: at 240 mm, 码 and EU both land on 38; at 280 mm, you get 46 码 versus EU 44.

How to measure your foot

You need a sheet of paper, a pencil, a ruler and a wall. This is the method podiatrists describe:

• Put the paper on a hard floor, against a wall.
• Stand on it with your heel against the wall and your weight on both feet. Your foot gets longer when you stand.
• Trace around your foot holding the pencil upright and close to the foot, or just mark the tip of your longest toe (it's not always the big toe).
• Measure from the wall to that mark, in millimetres. Do the other foot too and keep the bigger number: one foot is often larger than the other.
• Do it in the evening, wearing the socks you'll wear with the shoes: feet swell during the day, by about half a size according to Alberta's health services.

Your measurement is your foot, not the shoe. The shoe has to be longer: about a finger's width (13 mm) between your longest toe and the end, according to the same source. So if a seller gives the shoe's inside length, it should be longer than your measurement.

Why two sellers give different size charts

Because nothing forces them to use the same grid. EU and UK sizes don't measure the foot, they measure the last the shoe is built on. According to Wikipedia, the last is usually 13 to 17 mm longer than the foot; for adults, ISO 19407 gives lasts 13 to 25 mm longer than the foot. Every manufacturer picks its own margin. And ISO itself presents its conversion tables as a consumer guideline, not an exact equivalence.

We checked this in the Yupa catalogue. Fewer than 400 shoe listings, from fewer than 10 shops, publish a chart linking EU sizes to centimetres or millimetres. Between them there are about ten different charts, and they don't agree:

Yupa catalogue, 1 November 2026: fewer than 400 listings, fewer than 10 shops. For an EU 40, there's a 2 cm gap from one chart to another. Sellers don't always say whether their centimetres measure the foot or the insole, and some charts are typed by hand: in the most common one in the catalogue (282 listings), the US column drops from 9 to 7 between 39.5 and 40. Wikipedia also warns that conversion charts found online often contain errors. Trust the millimetres, compared with your own measurement.

Half sizes: why size 37 sometimes disappears

A half size isn't the same everywhere. In EU sizing, one size is one Paris point, 2/3 of a cm (6.7 mm), so a half size is about 3.3 mm. In UK and US sizing, the unit is a third of an inch (8.5 mm), so about 4.2 mm per half size. Mondopoint goes in 5 mm steps.

The result: a grid that follows US half sizes skips some EU numbers. In the Yupa catalogue, more than 12,000 listings list EU sizes one by one, and more than half of them offer half sizes. Of the just over 3,000 that list both 36.5 and 37.5, more than 9 in 10 have no 37 at all.

If you're a 37, don't just pick 36.5 or 37.5 at random: check the length in mm for each. In titles, a range ending in .5 (36-47.5, for example) signals half sizes: that's about 15% of the roughly 80,000 titles that give a range. The note 无半码 means the opposite: no half sizes.

Shoe sizes on Yupoo: what 119,227 listings show

On 1 November 2026, the Yupa catalogue held 483,983 shoe listings from 188 shops. For 119,227 of them (24.6%, from 86 shops), we could read a size range: in the title, the album description or the size list of the order link.

The most common range is 36-45 (19,968 listings, 16.7%), ahead of 36-46 (12.5%) and 35-45 (7.4%). In 44.2% of cases the range starts at 36, and in 29.2% at 35 or below. At the top, 48.2% of listings go up to at least 46, 22.1% up to 47 and only 6.2% up to 48.

These are European-style numbers: sellers' grids are almost never in millimetres. The chart shows, for each size, the share of listings whose range includes it.

EU 40 is almost always there (97.3%). Past 45 it drops fast: a 46 is offered in only 48.2% of listings, a 48 in 6.2%. For small feet, 35 shows up in just 29.2% of ranges.

Accuracy check: in 30 random listings, all 30 ranges were genuine shoe sizes. When the title also gives a range, the two match within one size in more than 8 cases out of 10. A listed range doesn't guarantee every size is in stock.

Very small and very large sizes: often “made to order, no returns”

Some shops say which sizes are made on demand. In Chinese you'll read 定做不退换 or 定制不退换: “made to order, no returns or exchanges”. In English, “customized”.

In the Yupa catalogue, more than 3,900 listings name those sizes. They're almost always the ends of the grid: 45 comes up by far the most, ahead of 38 and 40, followed by 41, 46 and 34, among others. 38 and 45 often frame a men's 39-44 grid; 34, 40 and 41 a women's 35-39 or 35-40 grid.

If you wear a very small or very large size, look for this note before you pay: according to the sellers themselves, a made-to-order size can't be returned.

US men's, US women's, UK: the traps

• US women's and US men's aren't the same: depending on the scale, the women's size is the men's size + 1 or + 1.5. A US men's 9 is a US women's 10 or 10.5.
• UK ≈ US men's − 1: according to Wikipedia, the same men's shoe is marked 13 in the US and 12 in the UK.
• Unisex grids: on Yupoo, many 36-45 grids are unisex. The size list sometimes specifies 女码 (women's size) or 男码 (men's size).
• Centimetres in a chart: they're not necessarily your foot length. If the seller doesn't say what was measured, ask.
• Width: Mondopoint can also record width (280/110 = 280 mm long, 110 mm wide), but the Chinese standard makes it optional.

Kids' shoe sizes

The Chinese standard covers all footwear, kids' shoes included: the size is still foot length in mm. For EU sizing the margin differs from adults: ISO 19407 allows 8% of foot length plus 6 mm. We applied that margin to the EU formula (1.5 × last length in cm), and used Wikipedia's children's formulas for UK and US.

These are calculations, so check them against the seller's chart. US kids' sizes run from 0 to 13.5, then the adult range starts again at 1. The old 码 formula (cm × 2 − 10) doesn't work for kids: for 150 mm it gives 20, where the EU calculation gives 25.5.

What about clothes?

For tops and bottoms, China uses a different standard (labels like 170/88A). It's all explained in Chinese sizes: a medium runs from 96 to 124 cm, here's how to get it right. The converter below reads the chest measurement from a seller's size chart, laid flat or all the way round.

The method before you order

• Measure both feet in the evening, standing, and keep the bigger one, in mm.
• Find your row in the chart above, or in Chinese size converter.
• Open the seller's chart. If it gives 脚长 or mm, compare it straight with your measurement and ignore the size number.
• If it only gives numbers (36-45), start from the EU column and check your size isn't “made to order” (定做不退换).
• Between two sizes, take the bigger one. If in doubt, ask the seller or your agent for the inside length before paying, and read How to buy from Yupoo: from album to parcel at your door, in 5 steps.