Last updated: 2 October 2026.
Quick answer. China's register splits wire mesh by construction: welded mesh, woven mesh, screening mesh, expanded metal and sintered mesh each sit under different standard numbers. Searching the literal translation of "wire mesh" returns ferrocement standards instead, so a specification should name the construction, the mesh standard and the wire standard.
How China's national standards organise welded, woven, screening and expanded wire mesh — the numbers a mesh specification should name, and the ones that mislead.
Every standard number, title, status and date below was read from the National Standards Information Public Service Platform, operated under China's State Administration for Market Regulation and the Standardization Administration of China. That platform is a Chinese-language registry; the English titles here are this page's own translation of the official Chinese titles, and the Chinese original governs. No standard's technical content is reproduced on this page — what follows is the register: which standards exist, what each covers by its official title, whether it is in force, and when it took effect. The platform was queried on 2 October 2026 and is listed at the end.
A foreign buyer specifying mesh from China meets two problems at once. The first is that the standards a Chinese mill works to are Chinese, while the mesh terms a Western buyer knows — welded mesh, woven mesh, gabion, chain link, expanded metal — are partly called something else. The second is that China's register of national standards is public and searchable, but it tells you what a standard is, not what it requires.
This page is about the first problem. It maps the register. It does not pretend to be the second, and it says so again at the end.
How the numbers on this page were produced. The platform's title search was queried on 2 October 2026 for the Chinese terms below. Each count is the number of records whose official title contains that term:
| Chinese term (searched) | English gloss | Records | In force | Superseded / withdrawn | Published, not yet effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 电焊网 | welded wire mesh | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 编织网 | woven mesh | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| 金属丝编织网 | metal-wire woven mesh | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| 筛网 | screening mesh | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| 金属丝网 | metal wire mesh | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 钢板网 | expanded metal | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 穿孔板 | perforated plate | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| 不锈钢丝 | stainless steel wire | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| 镀锌钢丝 | zinc-coated steel wire | 20 | 10 | 10 | 0 |
| 钢丝网 | steel wire mesh | 24 | 6 | 17 | 1 |
| 铁丝网 | iron wire netting | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 冲孔网 | perforated mesh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 石笼网 | gabion mesh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 护栏网 | fence mesh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 格宾网 | gabion mesh (alt. spelling) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 六角网 | hexagonal mesh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 不锈钢丝网 | stainless steel wire mesh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Read that table with one warning attached: the sets overlap. 编织网 (14) and 金属丝编织网 (12) share records; 筛网 (9) and 编织网 (14) share others. The column totals must not be added together, and this page does not add them. The table is a map of where records sit, not a count of distinct standards.
Two things follow from the shape of it, and both are useful.
This is the most useful finding on this page, and the reason the table above starts with 电焊网 and 编织网 rather than with the obvious term.
The natural translation of "wire mesh" is 钢丝网. Searching the register for it returns 24 records — the largest single family of the terms tested, which makes it look like the right door to knock on. It is not.
Of the 24 records, the great majority belong to ferrocement, not to hardware mesh. The family is dominated by 钢丝网水泥 — "wire-mesh cement", i.e. ferrocement — and by construction composites:
| Standard | Official title (translated) | Status | Published | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 16308-2026 | Ferrocement panels | In force | 2026-01-28 | 2026-08-01 |
| GB/T 4582-2026 | Ferrocement and ferrocement products — terminology | Published, not yet effective | 2026-07-02 | 2027-02-01 |
| GB/T 26540-2022 | Wire-mesh-frame composite insulation panels for wall insulation systems | In force | 2022-10-12 | 2023-05-01 |
| GB/T 32439-2015 | Steel-wire-mesh-reinforced polyethylene composite pipes for water supply | In force | 2015-12-31 | 2016-07-01 |
| GB/T 26941.4-2011 | Fences — Part 4: barbed steel wire mesh | Withdrawn | 2011-07-19 | 2012-05-01 |
| GB 16308-1996 | Ferrocement panels (the mandatory predecessor of GB/T 16308) | Withdrawn | 1996-05-15 | 1996-12-01 |
The rest of the family is the same story: ferrocement boat hull requirements, ferrocement terminology, and a long run of ferrocement mortar test methods. The register's 钢丝网 family is a construction-materials family. If your product is welded mesh panels, woven screening or expanded metal, this is not the family your specification belongs to — and naming a standard from it because the word matched would put a construction standard on a hardware datasheet.
The practical rule: search Chinese mesh standards by construction, not by the generic word. 电焊网 for welded, 编织网 for woven, 筛网 for screening, 钢板网 for expanded.
The welded family is short, and clean:
| Standard | Official title (translated) | Status | Published | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 33281-2016 | Zinc-coated welded wire mesh | In force | 2016-12-13 | 2017-07-01 |
One record, and it is specifically zinc-coated welded mesh. That specificity is worth noticing: the welded family in this register is defined by its coating, so an order for plain (uncoated) welded mesh is not covered by the title of the one standard that exists for welded mesh. Whether another standard covers it under a different construction word is a question this page cannot answer, because the register was searched by title and no other welded-mesh record was returned.
A second point a buyer should carry into a quotation: the surface-protection family behind that coating is separate, and it includes its own test methods — GB/T 2972-2016 (copper-sulphate test method for the zinc coating on zinc-coated steel wire, in force, published 2016-06-14, effective 2017-05-01, replacing the 1991 edition).
Woven mesh is the largest well-populated family here, and the current backbone is one standard:
| Standard | Official title (translated) | Status | Published | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 17492-2019 | Industrial metal-wire woven mesh — technical requirements and inspection | In force | 2019-12-10 | 2020-07-01 |
| GB/T 17492-2012 | Industrial metal-wire woven mesh — technical requirements and inspection | Withdrawn | 2012-12-31 | 2013-10-01 |
| GB/T 17492-1998 | Industrial metal-wire woven mesh — technical requirements and inspection | Withdrawn | 1998-09-02 | 1999-08-01 |
Three generations of one standard, two of them withdrawn. Name the year. A drawing that says "to GB/T 17492" without a year is ambiguous in a way that matters here, because the 2012 edition is no longer the live document.
The woven family also carries the standards that decide whether two meshes are compatible at all — the mesh opening / wire diameter combination guides:
| Standard | Official title (translated) | Status | Published | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 19628.2-2005 | Industrial wire cloth and metal-wire woven mesh — guide to the selection of combinations of mesh opening size and wire diameter — preferred combinations for metal-wire woven mesh | In force | 2005-01-13 | 2005-08-01 |
| GB/T 5330.1-2012 | Industrial metal-wire screening mesh and metal-wire woven mesh — guide to the selection of combinations of mesh opening size and wire diameter — Part 1: general | In force | 2012-09-03 | 2013-03-01 |
| GB/T 5330.1-2000 | (same subject, previous edition) | Withdrawn | 2000-03-16 | 2000-09-01 |
For a buyer, these are the two standards that make a mesh specifiable rather than describable. Mesh is defined by two numbers — opening and wire diameter — and these standards are the register's own guide to which pairs go together. If your purchase order specifies one number and not the other, this is the gap.
Screening mesh has its own current standard, and it is a recent one:
| Standard | Official title (translated) | Status | Published | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 5330-2025 | Industrial metal-wire woven square-opening screening mesh | In force | 2025-10-31 | 2026-05-01 |
| GB/T 5330-2003 | Industrial metal-wire woven square-opening screening mesh | Withdrawn | 2003-11-10 | 2004-06-01 |
| GB/T 18850-2002 | Industrial metal-wire screening mesh — technical requirements and inspection | In force | 2002-10-11 | 2003-05-01 |
| GB/T 26506-2011 | Cantilever screening-mesh vibrating screens | In force | 2011-05-12 | 2011-10-01 |
| GB/T 14014-2008 | Synthetic-fibre screening mesh | In force | 2008-12-31 | 2009-08-01 |
Note the timing on the first row: GB/T 5330-2025 was published on 31 October 2025 but takes effect on 1 May 2026. Chinese standards frequently carry a lead of several months between publication and effect, and an order placed against a draft specification in that window can name a standard that is not yet the operative one. The 2003 edition it replaces is already marked withdrawn.
The synthetic-fibre row is included on purpose: if your screening application is not metallic, the register has a family for that too, and it is not the metal-wire one.
Sieve standards appear under 编织网 and 穿孔板 because a test sieve is made of a woven mesh or a perforated plate. They are not product standards for mesh, and a buyer should not use them as one.
| Standard | Official title (translated) | Status | Published | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 6003.1-2022 | Test sieves — technical requirements and inspection — Part 1: metal-wire woven mesh test sieves | In force | 2022-10-12 | 2022-10-12 |
| GB/T 6003.1-2012 | (same subject, previous edition) | Withdrawn | 2012-09-03 | 2013-03-01 |
| GB/T 6005-2008 | Test sieves — nominal sizes of apertures of metal-wire woven mesh, perforated plate and electroformed sheet | In force | 2008-07-18 | 2009-02-01 |
| GB/T 44748.1-2024 | Sieving tests — Part 1: method using metal-wire woven mesh and metal perforated plate test sieves | In force | 2024-10-26 | 2025-05-01 |
| GB/T 37169-2018 | Metal woven-mesh-based PTFE tape — technical requirements and inspection method | In force | 2018-12-28 | 2019-07-01 |
The last row is the one worth pausing on. GB/T 37169-2018 is not a mesh standard — it is a standard for a tape made on a mesh base. The word "mesh" appears in its title because mesh is an input. That is exactly the kind of record a title search surfaces, and exactly the kind a buyer must not mistake for a product standard.
Expanded metal is its own family in the register, and it is a two-record family:
| Standard | Official title (translated) | Status | Published | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 33275-2016 | Expanded metal | In force | 2016-12-13 | 2017-07-01 |
| GB/T 26941.6-2011 | Fences — Part 6: expanded metal | Withdrawn | 2011-07-19 | 2012-05-01 |
The second row is instructive. GB/T 26941 is a multi-part fencing series, and three of its parts touch mesh — barbed steel wire mesh (Part 4), woven mesh (Part 5) and expanded metal (Part 6) — and every one of the three is now withdrawn. Anything citing the 26941 series by part number is citing a superseded document. The current expanded-metal standard is GB/T 33275-2016, and it is a product standard, not a fencing one.
Note also that the published date is the same day as the welded-mesh standard, 13 December 2016, taking effect on the same day, 1 July 2017 — the two mesh families were standardised in the same batch.
| Standard | Official title (translated) | Status | Published | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 25863-2010 | Stainless steel sintered metal-wire-mesh porous materials and elements | In force | 2011-01-10 | 2011-10-01 |
The single record returned for 金属丝网 (metal wire mesh) is a sintered product standard. This is a materials-engineering family, not a fence-panel one, and it is the clearest example on this page of why the generic word fails: the most literal Chinese translation of "metal wire mesh" returns a porous sintered material, while welded mesh, woven mesh and screening mesh — the products most buyers mean — sit in three other families entirely.
Whatever the mesh, the wire is specified separately, and this family is well populated:
| Standard | Official title (translated) | Status | Published | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 4240-2019 | Stainless steel wire | In force | 2019-06-04 | 2020-01-01 |
| GB/T 4240-2009 | Stainless steel wire | Withdrawn | 2009-10-30 | 2010-05-01 |
| GB/T 4240-1993 | Stainless steel wire | Withdrawn | 1993-06-10 | 1994-01-01 |
| GB/T 9944-2025 | Stainless steel wire rope | In force | 2025-08-29 | 2026-03-01 |
| GB/T 9944-2015 | Stainless steel wire rope | Withdrawn | 2015-09-11 | 2016-06-01 |
| GB/T 2972-2016 | Copper-sulphate test method for the zinc coating on zinc-coated steel wire | In force | 2016-06-14 | 2017-05-01 |
| GB/T 17101-2026 | Hot-dip zinc- or zinc-alloy-coated steel wire for bridge cables | In force | 2026-03-31 | 2026-10-01 |
Three points for a specification. First, the stainless wire family has three generations and only the 2019 edition is live — the same year-discipline problem as woven mesh. Second, zinc-coated wire is covered by a coating-test method as well as by product standards, so "galvanised" in a purchase order is not a complete statement. Third, the last row took effect on 1 October 2026 — yesterday, at the date of this query. A specification drafted last month names a different document from one drafted today, which is why the year belongs in the order, not in a covering email.
The register also returns a long tail of application-specific wire standards — wire for cotton baling, for bridge main-cable wrapping, for highway guardrails, for high-pressure rubber hose reinforcement, for submarine cable armouring, for communication lines, for spokes, for cold heading, for electropolishing. These are real records and none of them is a mesh standard. They appear because the wire word matches. A buyer who searches "galvanised steel wire" in the register and picks the first result may pick a baling-wire standard.
Four of the terms tested returned zero records on a title search:
| Chinese term | English gloss | Records |
|---|---|---|
| 冲孔网 | perforated mesh | 0 |
| 石笼网 | gabion mesh | 0 |
| 格宾网 | gabion mesh (alt. spelling) | 0 |
| 护栏网 | fence mesh | 0 |
| 六角网 | hexagonal mesh | 0 |
| 不锈钢丝网 | stainless steel wire mesh | 0 |
Read this correctly before drawing a conclusion from it. A zero result means no national-standard record has that term in its official title — it does not mean the product is unregulated, uncertified or unavailable. Gabion, chain-link, hexagonal and fence mesh are traded from China in quantity. What the register says is that if a supplier quotes you a GB or GB/T number for one of them, the number will be from a differently-worded family: perforated products sit near 穿孔板 (7 records, 4 in force), and fencing products sit in the withdrawn 隔离栅 series.
That gap has a commercial consequence worth stating plainly: for these constructions the register gives the buyer no ready-made number to specify, so the specification has to be written from the drawing and the test method instead. That is a different job from naming a standard, and it should be priced and scheduled as one.
This list is ours. It follows from the register's structure rather than from any single standard:
For a quoted order that pins those items against a drawing, send the requirement with your drawing.
Our own view, stated as ours: the register is a specification tool, not an assurance tool. It lets you write a precise order and lets a third party check a delivery against a drawing. It does not verify a batch, and no standard number on a datasheet should be read as evidence that a particular batch was tested.
⚠️ Query-scope disclosure. The counts above are title-search results. A standard whose official title does not contain the searched term is not counted, even if it governs the product. The term sets overlap and must not be summed. 24 records for 钢丝网 is therefore not a count of Chinese wire-mesh standards — it is a count of records whose titles contain that word, and most of them are ferrocement.
No. The register splits mesh by construction: welded mesh is covered by its own standard (GB/T 33281-2016 for zinc-coated welded wire mesh), woven mesh by GB/T 17492-2019, screening mesh by GB/T 5330-2025, expanded metal by GB/T 33275-2016 and sintered mesh by GB/T 25863-2010. A purchase order that says "wire mesh" has not named a standard.
Because the natural Chinese translation, 钢丝网, is dominated by ferrocement records — 钢丝网水泥, "wire-mesh cement" — such as GB/T 16308-2026 for ferrocement panels and GB/T 26540-2022 for wire-mesh-frame composite insulation panels. Searching by construction instead (电焊网, 编织网, 筛网, 钢板网) reaches the hardware families.
GB/T 33281-2016, Zinc-coated welded wire mesh, published 13 December 2016 and effective 1 July 2017. It is the only welded-mesh record returned, and its title is specific to the zinc-coated product.
GB/T 17492-2019, Industrial metal-wire woven mesh — technical requirements and inspection, published 10 December 2019 and effective 1 July 2020. The 2012 and 1998 editions of the same standard are both marked withdrawn, so the year matters in the specification.
Not under that name. A title search for 石笼网 and its alternative spelling 格宾网 returned zero records, as did 护栏网 (fence mesh), 六角网 (hexagonal mesh) and 冲孔网 (perforated mesh). A zero result means no national standard has that term in its title — it does not mean the product is unregulated or unavailable, but it does mean a supplier's "GB" number for one of these will come from a differently-worded family.
All sources retrieved 2 October 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 — The entire standard register used on this page, retrieved 2 October 2026: for each searched term, the number of records whose official title contains it and their status split (电焊网 1/1 in force; 编织网 14 = 7 in force + 7 withdrawn; 金属丝编织网 12 = 6 + 6; 筛网 9 = 5 + 4; 金属丝网 1/1; 钢板网 2 = 1 + 1; 穿孔板 7 = 4 + 3; 不锈钢丝 11 = 5 + 6; 镀锌钢丝 20 = 10 + 10; 钢丝网 24 = 6 in force + 17 withdrawn + 1 published not yet effective; 铁丝网 1 = 1 withdrawn; 冲孔网 / 石笼网 / 护栏网 / 格宾网 / 六角网 / 不锈钢丝网 all 0); and, for every standard named, its standard number, official Chinese title, national-standard nature (mandatory or recommended), status, publication date and effective date | Standardization Administration of China / State Administration for Market Regulation — National Standards Information Public Service Platform, standard search, Chinese (retrieved 2026-10-02) https://std.samr.gov.cn/ |
| S2 — The query used for S1 was run against the platform's standard search endpoint with each Chinese term above as the search text | Standardization Administration of China — National Standards Information Public Service Platform, search query endpoint (retrieved 2026-10-02) https://std.samr.gov.cn/gb/search/gbQueryPage |