Please share the tracking number

You have been waiting three days since the supplier said “already shipped,” and your inbox is still empty. No tracking number, no update, just silence. This is a universal experience in cross-border trade, and it is exactly when you reach for 请发一下追踪号.

This phrase is the gold standard for asking for tracking information in Chinese business communication. The key ingredient is 一下 (yīxià), which functions like the difference between “send me the tracking number” and “send me the tracking number real quick.” Without 一下, the request lands as a command. With it, you sound like a normal person making a reasonable request. This particle is everywhere in spoken and typed Chinese, and mastering it is one of the highest-leverage things you can do for your business Chinese — it turns demands into requests without adding a single word of formal politeness that would make you sound like a textbook.

Chinese suppliers often have two different tracking systems running in parallel. For international shipments, they use 追踪号 (zhuīzōng hào), which is the tracking number you will use with freight forwarders, on 17track, or with DHL/FedEx/UPS. For domestic shipments within China — the leg from the factory to the port, or samples sent by courier — they use 快递单号 (kuàidì dān hào), which is a waybill number for domestic carriers like SF Express, YTO, or ZTO. If you ask for a 追踪号 when the goods are still moving domestically, the supplier might be genuinely confused or reply with “还没有国际追踪号” (no international tracking number yet). Know which leg you are asking about.

When the tracking number finally arrives, you will often get a string of digits with no carrier name, no link, no context. This is normal. Chinese suppliers assume you know where to plug in the number. If you need the carrier name too, add 是哪家快递公司? (nǎ jiā kuàidì gōngsī — which courier company?) to your request. And if you are the one being asked for a tracking number by a Chinese buyer, the exact same phrase works in reverse — just change the subject.