Last updated: 3 November 2026
Direct answer. An endorsement changes the date, train number or seat of one ticket, once, provided seats remain. Departure and arrival stations cannot be changed, except between stations in the same city. Changing the destination is a separate service, requested at least 48 hours before departure, and it blocks any further change.
What 12306's endorsement rules allow, why your ticket can be changed once, and how a destination change differs from a simple date change.
A ticket is not the trip. Plans move, and Chinese railways publish a procedure for moving with them: the endorsement, plus a second service, change of destination, that behaves differently enough to be worth separating. Both are described in China Railway's English FAQ, in the same block that also carries the fee table — and that table is the part most guides reproduce. This page does the opposite. It walks through what can be changed, what a change locks shut, which channel will actually accept your ticket, and how the money is settled. The published fee percentages are tabulated on China train seat classes and are not repeated here, because the numbers have not changed and a second copy of a fee table is how two pages start disagreeing.
The FAQ defines endorsement as the procedure for changing the date of travel, the train number, or the seat (berth). Two conditions are attached to that definition in the same paragraph, and both matter more than the list of fields.
That exception is narrower than it reads. The FAQ qualifies it with "stations in the same city" and does not publish a list of which station pairs count, so the safe reading is the conservative one: a same-city station pair may be accepted, and anything crossing cities belongs to the destination-change service described below.
Endorsement is available once per ticket. The FAQ repeats this in two separate answers, which is a fair signal that it is the rule passengers run into: endorsement or destination change is available to a ticket for only one time.
The lock is asymmetric, and the asymmetry is the useful part:
| You did this | What it now blocks |
|---|---|
| Endorsed the ticket (date, train, seat) | Changing the destination — the destination service is not available for endorsed tickets |
| Changed the destination | Any further endorsement — a ticket whose destination has been changed cannot be endorsed |
| Bought a group ticket or a through ticket | The destination-change service — neither is eligible |
If you cancel the trip after an endorsement, the FAQ points you back to the ordinary refund rules. What it states plainly is the edge case: an endorsed ticket cannot be refunded after the train has departed. Before departure, the refund path is the normal one, described on China train ticket refund.
The FAQ splits endorsement by how the ticket was bought and how the account is verified, and the split is not cosmetic — one of these routes cannot be completed online at all.
That third route is the one that decides whether a change is a two-minute job or a station visit, and it turns on a document most travellers treat as a souvenir. If you have already printed the reimbursement receipt — for an expense claim, typically — the online route is gone. The itinerary sheet is a different document and is covered on China train e-ticket.
Change of destination has existed since 10 June 2015, and the FAQ describes it as choosing a new destination after purchase and travelling on another train available within the presale period, with a different departure date, train number or seat. It is the only route that moves the arrival station, and it carries its own gate.
Because one change consumes the ticket, the order of operations matters: decide the destination first, then treat the date and train as part of the same move. A plain endorsement made first will block the destination change entirely.
The FAQ settles the difference according to how the original ticket was paid, and the two paths behave quite differently.
| Original payment | If the new ticket costs more | If the new ticket costs less |
|---|---|---|
| Cash at the counter | Pay the difference, in cash | Difference refunded in cash, after a refund service fee is charged on the difference |
| Bank card at the window, or online payment on 12306.cn | Pay the full price of the new ticket by bank card | Difference returned to the original card or payment account within the prescribed time, after a refund service fee is charged on the difference |
The middle row is the one that surprises people: with a card or online purchase, an upgrade is not settled by paying the gap. The full new fare is charged, and the original fare comes back separately, on the railway's timetable rather than yours. The refund service fee is charged on the difference, not on the whole ticket, when the new ticket is cheaper — and both fee scales are the ones already published for refunds.
One case sits outside the fare arithmetic entirely. If you cannot take the train described on your ticket — same departure date, train number, seat or berth — because of railway responsibility, staff at the station or on the train will make proper arrangements. If the rearranged train, seat or berth costs more, the excess is not charged. If it costs less, the difference is refunded at the departure or destination station, and no refund service fee is charged.
That is the only branch in the FAQ where a fee is explicitly waived, and it is triggered by cause rather than by timing: it applies because the railway could not deliver the journey you bought, not because you changed your mind early.
Cancelling is a refund, not an endorsement, and the two are governed by different text. Two boundaries carry over from this page: an endorsed ticket cannot be refunded after departure, and a ticket whose destination was changed is refunded under the ordinary refund rules rather than as a fresh purchase. The refund procedure, the 180-day window and the trustee arrangement are on China train ticket refund; the fee percentages for both endorsements and refunds are tabulated on China train seat classes; and what happens if you simply miss the train is on China train ticket validity.
The FAQ publishes no procedure for changing a ticket after the train has departed except the same-day case and the next-day case named in its fee table — and no procedure at all for changing the origin station to a different city. Neither gap is filled on this page.
No. Endorsement, and separately the change of destination, is available to a ticket for one time only. The FAQ states the rule twice, once for each service.
Not as an endorsement: the departure and arrival stations cannot be changed, with the exception of stations in the same city. Moving to a station in another city is done through the change-of-destination service, which must be requested at least 48 hours before departure and is not available for endorsed tickets, group tickets or through tickets.
Usually not. A ticket bought on 12306.cn can be endorsed there when seats are available, and a ticket bought at a window, machine, agency or by another person can be endorsed on the website by a registered passenger who has completed facial identity verification in the mobile app. A ticket bought with cash, or one whose reimbursement receipt has already been printed, must be handled at the designated station window, and the receipt must be returned.
It depends on how far ahead you change and whether the new train departs later than the original date; some changes carry no fee at all. 12306 publishes the scale as percentages of the lower fare, and it is tabulated on our seat-classes page rather than copied here, because a fee table that exists in two places eventually disagrees with itself.
Where railway responsibility stops you taking the train described on your ticket, station or on-board staff will make proper arrangements. If the replacement costs more, the excess is not charged; if it costs less, the difference is refunded at the departure or destination station, with no refund service fee.
All sources retrieved 3 November 2026. This page is an independent reading of the sources listed; the official pages themselves are the specification.
| Fact used on this page | Source |
|---|---|
| S1 — Endorsement defined as changing date of travel, train number or seat (berth), handled only when capacity and available tickets exist, with departure and arrival stations not changeable except stations in the same city; ticket change guidelines state a ticket may be changed once and that changing the arrival station requires a request 48 hours before departure, after which no further change of date, train number or seat class is allowed; endorsement through 12306.cn when seats are available; registered passengers who completed facial identity verification through the mobile app may endorse their own tickets bought at a station window, ticketing machine, ticket agency or by other people on 12306.cn; tickets bought by cash or with a reimbursement receipt already printed must be handled at the designated station window and the printed reimbursement receipt returned after endorsement; destination-change service not available for endorsed tickets, group tickets or through tickets, and tickets whose destination has been changed cannot be endorsed; change of destination launched 10 June 2015, letting a passenger choose a new destination and travel by another train available within the presale period with a different departure date, train number or seat, provided tickets are on sale; destination change requested through 12306.cn or a designated station window at least 48 hours ahead of the original train's departure; one change per ticket, with refund available under refund rules after an endorsement, and endorsed tickets not refundable after train departure; price-difference settlement by cash versus bank card or online payment, with the full new fare charged on card and online purchases when the new ticket is dearer and the original fare returned within the prescribed time, and the difference refunded after a refund service fee is charged on the difference when the new ticket is cheaper; where railway responsibility prevents travel as described on the ticket, station or on-board staff make proper arrangements, any excess fare is not charged, any difference is refunded at the departure or destination station, and no refund service fee is charged — China Railway 12306, English FAQ — Endorsement and refund, questions 1–8 (https://www.12306.cn/en/faq.html) | 3 November 2026 |