A Simplified Chinese card carries a code that looks like nothing on an English or Japanese card — CBB2C 06 15/15 — and it is the fastest way to tell whether a listing is the card you think it is. Here is how to read every part of one.
The codes are not decoration and they are not a serial number. They encode three separate things: which product the card came out of, which slot the card occupies inside that product, and how rare the treatment is. Once you can read them, you can identify a card from a text listing alone, without a picture and without trusting the seller’s description.
Every code on this page is one we hold in our own catalogue, so each example can be checked against a live listing.
Why Chinese codes look different
Simplified Chinese Pokémon cards entered the mainland China market in 2022, and the products built for that market were given their own set codes rather than translated ones. The result is a family of prefixes that do not appear in the English or Japanese line at all.
There is one pattern that holds across every code in our catalogue: the set code ends in the letter C. CBB1C, csv3C, cs5.5C, 151C — the trailing C marks the Simplified Chinese print run. A code without it is a different language’s product, which is the first thing to check when a listing is ambiguous.
Beyond that, the prefixes fall into four families:
| Printed prefix | What it is | Our listing for it |
|---|---|---|
CBB1C – CBB6C |
Gem Pack Vol. 1 to Vol. 6 — the all-foil mini sets, one code per volume | Volume-by-volume guide |
151C |
Collect 151, the Chinese take on the 151 set, released in four editions | Collect 151 Pikachu |
csv3C — csv10C |
Scarlet & Violet era Chinese main sets: Fearless Terastal (csv3C), Reward Round (csv4C), Dark Crystal Blaze (csv5C), True Mystery (csv6C), Blade Awakening (csv7C), Brilliant Fantasy (csv8C), Grand Terastal Gathering (csv9.5C), Chasing Glory Together (csv10C) | Fearless Terastal Arcanine |
cs3aC / cs3bC / cs5bC / cs5.5C |
Earlier Scarlet & Violet era Chinese subsets, including Primordial Arts, Gallant Galaxy and Overshadowed Radiance | Primordial Arts Blastoise VMAX |
…/SV-P |
Promos, distributed outside the numbered sets | Mew ex lottery promo |
Read the prefix first and you already know what kind of product you are looking at: a mini set, a main set, an earlier subset, or a promo. That distinction does a lot of work, because a promo and a main set can print the same Pokémon at wildly different scarcity.
Part 2: Gem Pack cards use a group and a variant
Gem Pack is the family where the rest of the code matters most, because a Gem Pack card does not have a single position in a set. The product is organised by Pokémon, and each Pokémon gets its own group with its own ladder of treatments.
Take the first volume. Group 01 is Sprigatito, and the nine treatments in that group climb a rarity ladder that is documented card by card: [4]
| Printed code | Treatment | Tier |
|---|---|---|
CBB1C 0101/09 |
Leaf energy foil | Common ● |
CBB1C 0102/09 |
Poké Ball foil | Common ● |
CBB1C 0103/09 |
star confetti foil | Uncommon ◆ |
CBB1C 0104/09 |
prism foil | Uncommon ◆ |
CBB1C 0105/09 |
Master Ball foil | Rare ★ |
CBB1C 0106/09 |
Shiny | Rare ★ |
CBB1C 0107/09 |
Gem Pack logo foil | Double Rare ★★ |
CBB1C 0108/09 |
Art Rare | Triple Rare ★★★ |
CBB1C 0109/09 |
Art Rare, featuring Liko | Triple Rare ★★★ |
So CBB1C 01 09/09 reads as: Gem Pack Vol. 1, group 01, treatment 09 of 09. And treatment 09 of group 01 is the Art Rare featuring Sprigatito’s partner Liko — which is why the card we list as Sprigatito & Liko carries exactly that code.
The same ladder explains the other three Vol. 1 cards we hold. Group 03 is Fuecoco, group 05 is Quaxly, group 07 is Captain Pikachu, and in each case treatment 09 of 09 is the Art Rare featuring the Pokémon’s partner from the anime. Fuecoco & Roy is CBB1C 03 09/09, Quaxly & Dot is CBB1C 05 09/09, and Captain Pikachu & Friede is CBB1C 07 09/09. [4]
Volumes do not share a ladder length. Vol. 1 runs to nine treatments per group and Vol. 2 to fifteen, which is why the fraction after the slash changes between volumes. Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5 and Vol. 6 all run to seven: a Vol. 3 card prints as NN 07/07.
Part 3: Main-set cards use number and printed total
The other families use the convention collectors already know from English cards — the card’s number over the printed size of the set — and this is where the most misread detail in Chinese listings sits.
Arcanine from Fearless Terastal prints as csv3C 155/130 SAR. The numerator is bigger than the denominator. That is not a typo and not a fake: a card numbered above the printed total is a secret rare, a card that sits past the end of the numbered checklist. [5] The same structure appears throughout the Chinese main sets we list — csv10C 276/222 SAR for Brock’s Scouting, and csv9.5C 234/208 SAR for Sylveon ex.
Read the numerator as position and the denominator as the size of the numbered set, and the card’s status is obvious before you have seen a photograph.
Part 4: The rarity suffix
The letters after the number are the rarity, printed on the card itself, so they never have to be inferred from the artwork.
| Suffix | Rarity | Cards in our Chinese-exclusive list |
|---|---|---|
AR |
Illustration Rare — the gold-star rarity introduced with the Scarlet & Violet expansion [5] | 23 |
SAR |
Special Art Rare | 9 |
UR |
Ultra Rare — the gold-trimmed treatments [5] | 4 |
K |
Radiant | 3 |
HR |
Hyper Rare | 2 |
The split is worth noting because it tells you what kind of card the Chinese line is built around. Thirty-two of the 42 cards on our Chinese-exclusive list are AR or SAR — artwork rarities rather than power rarities. Only four are gold UR, and those four are training and item cards rather than Pokémon.
Two codes, decoded end to end
CBB3C 02 07/07 — Gem Pack Vol. 3 (CBB3C), group 02, treatment 07 of a seven-treatment group. Because the top treatment in a Gem Pack group is the Art Rare, this identifies the group’s artwork card, and group 02 is Meowth — the lantern-festival illustration. [6]
CBB2C 06 15/15 — Gem Pack Vol. 2 (CBB2C), group 06, treatment 15 of 15. Group 06 is Umbreon, and treatment 15 is the top of a fifteen-treatment ladder: the far-right panel of illustrator HYOGONOSUKE’s four-card connected forest. [1]
The three traps
The fraction alone identifies nothing. In Gem Pack Vol. 2, Eevee, Leafeon, Sylveon and Umbreon all print 15/15. They are four different cards in four different groups, and only the leading group number separates them. Quote the whole code or your checklist will merge them into one entry. [1]
The Pokémon is not the identity. Two listings can both read “Umbreon” and be entirely different products — one a Chinese-exclusive commission, the other a Chinese printing of an illustration that also ran in Japanese. The code settles it, and so does the test in the three branches explained.
A high numerator is not a high price by itself. 276/222 tells you the card sits past the end of the numbered set. It does not tell you how many were printed, how the artwork was commissioned, or whether the card exists in another language. Those are separate questions, and only the first one is answered by the code.
Where to find the code on a listing
We put the full printed code in the product description of every card we list, so a listing can be matched against a card you already own without relying on the photo. If you are searching for a card and only have the code, send it to us as-is — CBB3C 02 07/07 is enough for us to confirm which card you mean — and we will come back with a price and a lead time before you pay anything.
Everything referenced here is in our Chinese Exclusive catalogue as a PSA 10 (Gem Mint) graded copy.
Frequently asked questions
What does the set code on a Simplified Chinese Pokémon card mean?
The code identifies the product, the card’s slot inside it and the card’s rarity print. The prefix names the set — CBB1C through CBB6C are Gem Pack Vol. 1 to Vol. 6, 151C is Collect 151, and the csv and cs prefixes cover the Scarlet & Violet era Chinese main sets and subsets. The set code always ends in the letter C, which marks the Simplified Chinese print run.
How do I read a Gem Pack card number like CBB2C 06 15/15?
Gem Pack is organised by Pokémon rather than by one running set number, so the code has four parts: CBB2C is the volume, 06 is the group number for the Pokémon, 15 is the treatment within that group, and the second 15 is the total number of treatments in the group. The highest-numbered treatment in a group is the Art Rare, so 15/15 identifies the group’s artwork card.
Why is the card number higher than the set total, like 155/130?
A card numbered above the printed size of its set is a secret rare — it sits past the end of the numbered checklist. Arcanine from Fearless Terastal prints as csv3C 155/130 SAR, and Brock’s Scouting from Chasing Glory Together prints as csv10C 276/222 SAR. The numerator is the card’s position and the denominator is the size of the numbered set, so a higher numerator is expected rather than an error.
What do AR, SAR, UR and HR mean on a Chinese card?
They are the rarity suffixes printed on the card. AR is Illustration Rare, the gold-star rarity introduced with the Scarlet & Violet expansion. SAR is Special Art Rare, UR is Ultra Rare, HR is Hyper Rare and K is Radiant. They are printed on the card itself, so the rarity never has to be inferred from the artwork.
Can two different cards share the same code?
No, but they can share a partial one. The fraction alone is not unique: in Gem Pack Vol. 2, Eevee, Leafeon, Sylveon and Umbreon all end in 15/15. Only the full code including the leading group number identifies a single card, which is why the group number has to be kept when you build a checklist.
Sources
Sources and further reading
- PokéAri — Four Cards, One Forest: The Eevee Art of Gem Pack Vol. 2. The four connected-art cards’ printed identifiers (CBB2C 01, 06, 07 and 09, all 15/15) and why the fraction alone cannot identify a card. pokeari.com
- Red Cat Collectibles — Pokémon Gem Pack Vol. 2 Guide: Simplified Chinese Card List. CBB2C checklist, 140 treatments, and the star-rarity scale. redcatcollectibles.com
- Red Cat Collectibles — Pokémon Gem Pack Vol. 3 Guide: Simplified Chinese Card List. CBB3C identifiers, including Meowth 02-07 and Gengar 03-07. redcatcollectibles.com
- Elite Fourum — Simplified Chinese Gem Pack features exclusive “Pokémon Horizons” anime Special Art Promos. Card-by-card CBB1C group 01 numbering from 0101/09 to 0109/09, with the foil finish and rarity tier printed for each, plus the CBB1C 0309/09, 0509/09 and 0709/09 Art Rares. elitefourum.com
- Bulbapedia — Rarity. Definitions for Illustration Rare (AR), Ultra Rare (UR), and the secret-rare convention of numbering a card above the printed size of the set. bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net
- The official Pokémon website in China — 宝可梦卡牌 宝石包即将登场. Announcement of the Gem Pack line and its 17 January 2025 release. pokemon.cn
Every code quoted in this guide is one we hold in our own catalogue and can be checked against a live listing. Rarity definitions follow the sources above. No price in this guide is a forecast.