Last updated: 7 October 2026.
Quick answer. China files welding under four separate jobs — procedure qualification (工艺评定), the welding procedure specification (工艺规程), operator skill assessment (技能评定) and weld examination. A 焊接 title search returns 91 in-force records, but 49 of them name a welded product, not a welding process. Only four are mandatory, and all four are safety.
Welding in China: the GB standards behind procedure qualification, welder qualification and weld inspection, the counts the register returns, and the product-name trap.
Every standard number, title, status and date on this page comes from the National Standards Information Public Service Platform (`std.samr.gov.cn`), the Chinese state platform that publishes the national standard register, searched by title on 7 October 2026. The searches, the counts they returned and the retrieved rows are recorded in the source table at the end.
A welded part bought from China is not specified by one standard, and the register shows why. Ask it for a welding standard and the first thing it returns is not welding at all — it is a shelf of welded products. The process documents are the smaller, harder-to-find group, and they split four ways.
Three findings from the register are worth a buyer's attention before anything else on this page:
The platform searched here is a title index. A term either appears in a standard's title or it does not; the search is not a full-text search, and a standard that governs welding without naming it in the title will not appear in these counts. That single sentence explains the product-name trap below.
Four consequences the reader should carry through the tables:
The register is also the only source used. No ASTM, EN, ISO, AMS or JIS number appears on this page, and no mapping between the GB system and any other system is attempted, because no mapping was retrieved from a source.
Title searches run on 7 October 2026. "Reported" is the total the platform prints; "retrieved" is the rows actually returned; "unique" is those rows after deduplication.
| Search term (Chinese) | Meaning | Reported | Retrieved | Unique | In force | Abolished | Not yet effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 焊接 | welding | 402 | 196 | 190 | 91 | 95 | 4 |
| 焊缝 | weld / weld seam | 93 | 93 | 93 | 57 | 31 | 5 |
| 钎焊 | brazing | 18 | 18 | 18 | 10 | 7 | 1 |
Three rows need a note, because a reader who skims the table will misread them:
This is the single most useful finding on the page, and it is worth walking through because the same trap exists in other families on this site.
A buyer looking for the Chinese standard for welding would reasonably search 焊接 — it is the ordinary word. The register returns 91 in-force records for it, which looks like a deep process family. It is not one. Read the 91 and:
The productive terms are the process words, not the material word. The one process word that returns the examinable standards is 焊缝 — 93 records, 57 in force, with 27 of those being weld non-destructive testing methods. Brazing's equivalent is 钎焊 (18 records, 10 in force). The practical rule is the same one that produced the trap pages on this site before: search the process, not the product.
These are the current national entries a welding specification most often has to name. Status and dates are read from the register, not from the standard's text.
| Standard | Title (this page's translation) | Issued | Effective | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 33209-2016 | welding procedure qualification for welded gas cylinders | 2016-12-13 | 2017-07-01 | in force |
| GB/T 44518-2024 | welding procedure qualification test for underwater hyperbaric dry welding | 2024-09-29 | 2025-04-01 | in force |
| GB/T 39312-2020 | welding procedure qualification test for copper and copper alloys | 2020-11-19 | 2021-06-01 | in force |
| GB/T 19868.2-2005 | procedure qualification based on previous welding experience | 2005-08-10 | 2006-04-01 | in force |
| Standard | Title (this page's translation) | Issued | Effective | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 19867.1-2005 | welding procedure specification for arc welding | 2005-08-10 | 2006-04-01 | in force |
| GB/T 19867.1-2026 | welding procedure specifications and qualification for metallic materials — part 1: arc welding | 2026-09-28 | 2027-04-01 | not yet effective |
| GB/T 19867.2-2008 | welding procedure specification for gas welding | 2008-03-31 | 2008-09-01 | in force |
| GB/T 19867.2-2026 | welding procedure specifications and qualification for metallic materials — part 2: gas welding | 2026-07-30 | 2027-02-01 | not yet effective |
| GB/T 19867.4-2008 | welding procedure specification for laser welding | 2008-03-31 | 2008-09-01 | in force |
| GB/T 19867.5-2008 | welding procedure specification for resistance welding | 2008-03-31 | 2008-09-01 | in force |
| Standard | Title (this page's translation) | Issued | Effective | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 19805-2005 | welding operators — skill assessment | 2005-06-08 | 2005-12-01 | in force |
| GB/T 44527-2024 | skill assessment for divers and welding operators in underwater hyperbaric dry welding | 2024-09-29 | 2025-04-01 | in force |
| GB/T 41113-2021 | skill assessment for hard-brazing workers and brazing operators | 2021-12-31 | 2022-07-01 | in force |
This is the family that the 焊接 search hides and the 焊缝 search exposes. All 57 in-force 焊缝 records are examination documents; a selection of the current set:
| Standard | Title (this page's translation) | Issued | Effective | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 32259-2015 | visual testing of fusion-welded joints | 2015-12-10 | 2016-07-01 | in force |
| GB/T 11345-2023 | ultrasonic testing of welds — techniques, testing levels and assessment | 2023-11-27 | 2024-06-01 | in force |
| GB/T 29711-2023 | ultrasonic testing — characterisation of indications in welds | 2023-11-27 | 2024-06-01 | in force |
| GB/T 29712-2023 | ultrasonic testing — acceptance levels | 2023-11-27 | 2024-06-01 | in force |
| GB/T 3323.1-2019 | radiographic testing — part 1: film techniques with X and gamma rays | 2019-08-30 | 2020-03-01 | in force |
| GB/T 3323.2-2019 | radiographic testing — part 2: X and gamma ray techniques with digital detectors | 2019-08-30 | 2020-03-01 | in force |
| GB/T 26951-2025 | magnetic particle testing of welds | 2025-10-31 | 2026-02-01 | in force |
| GB/T 26952-2025 | magnetic particle testing — acceptance levels | 2025-10-31 | 2026-02-01 | in force |
| GB/T 26953-2025 | penetrant testing — acceptance levels | 2025-10-31 | 2026-02-01 | in force |
| GB/T 2650-2022 | destructive tests — impact test | 2022-10-12 | 2022-10-12 | in force |
| GB/T 2651-2023 | destructive tests — transverse tensile test | 2023-05-23 | 2023-12-01 | in force |
| GB/T 2652-2022 | destructive tests — longitudinal tensile test of weld metal in fusion-welded joints | 2022-10-12 | 2022-10-12 | in force |
| GB/T 26957-2022 | destructive tests — tensile test methods for cruciform and lap joints | 2022-10-12 | 2022-10-12 | in force |
Two acceptance-level documents sit outside the 焊缝 search because the register files them as product-family documents: GB/T 19418-2003, quality levels for defects in arc-welded joints in steel — the document most often meant by "the weld quality level" — and GB/T 31032-2023, welding and acceptance of steel pipelines. Welding supervision on steel structures is GB/T 44204-2024.
Our reading, and it is ours. The four jobs above are four different pieces of paper. A supplier's claim to "weld to Chinese standard" answers none of them, because the register separates the qualification of the process, the specification the shop works to, the certification of the operator and the acceptance level of the examination. If your enquiry does not name all four, the quotation and the drawing will not be talking about the same thing.
The family's process, specification and examination documents all carry GB/T numbers, which mark recommended national standards. Four titles retrieved in these searches carry a GB number, which marks a mandatory national standard — and all four are about protecting the person doing the welding:
| Standard | Title (this page's translation) | Issued | Effective | Nature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB 9448-2025 | welding and cutting safety | 2025-08-01 | 2026-08-01 | mandatory (GB) |
| GB 3609.1-2025 | eye and face protection — welding protection — part 1: welding protectors | 2025-08-29 | 2026-09-01 | mandatory (GB) |
| GB 3609.2-2025 | eye and face protection — welding protection — part 2: automatic darkening welding filters | 2025-08-29 | 2026-09-01 | mandatory (GB) |
| GB 8965.2-2022 | protective clothing — welding clothing | 2022-12-29 | 2024-01-01 | mandatory (GB) |
Three of the four took effect in 2026, and the two eye-and-face standards moved status on the way:
That is a useful thing to know before reading a supplier's certificate claims. The mandatory documents in this family govern welding and cutting safety and personal protective equipment, not the metallurgy or the acceptance level of the part you are buying. Whether a weld was qualified, to what specification, by whom, and accepted on what basis is governed by recommended standards and by your drawing — which is where the specification actually lives. The distinction between mandatory and recommended numbers is described in China's GB standards.
Four current entries are worth knowing because they are the ones a buyer can act on directly:
| Standard | Title (this page's translation) | Issued | Effective | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 25778-2010 | purchasing guide for welding consumables | 2010-12-23 | 2011-06-01 | in force |
| GB/T 25776-2010 | method for evaluating the welding-procedure performance of welding consumables | 2010-12-23 | 2011-06-01 | in force |
| GB/T 39255-2020 | shielding gases for welding and cutting | 2020-11-19 | 2021-06-01 | in force |
| GB/T 25774.2-2023 | testing of welding consumables — part 2: preparation of mechanical-property specimens for single-run and double-run butt welds in steel | 2023-11-27 | 2024-06-01 | in force |
Two consumable-input standards moved recently and take effect this cycle: GB/T 3429-2025, steel wire rod for welding, and GB/T 4241-2025, stainless steel wire rod for welding, both issued 29 August 2025 and effective 1 March 2026. The older GB/T 3429-2015 and GB/T 3429-2002 are in the register as abolished.
The drawing vocabulary is a family of its own, and it is what makes a weld symbol on a Chinese drawing mean something precise:
| Standard | Title (this page's translation) | Issued | Effective | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 3375-1994 | welding terminology | 1994-06-20 | 1995-05-01 | in force |
| GB/T 324-2008 | representation of weld symbols | 2008-06-26 | 2009-01-01 | in force |
| GB/T 16672-1996 | welds — working positions — definitions of angles of slope and rotation | 1996-12-18 | 1997-07-01 | in force |
| GB/T 16672-2026 | welding and allied processes — welding positions | 2026-09-28 | 2027-04-01 | not yet effective |
| GB/T 5185-2005 | welding and allied processes — names and codes for methods | 2005-08-10 | 2006-04-01 | in force |
| GB/T 5185-2026 | welding, brazing and cutting — names and codes for methods | 2026-09-28 | 2027-04-01 | not yet effective |
A drawing instruction this produces: if a position or a process code is what your weld callout depends on, the register already holds both editions of the position standard and the code standard. Naming the edition removes an argument later.
Five entries in the register are not yet effective, and they are the ones that matter to a purchase order that runs into next year:
| Standard | Title (this page's translation) | Issued | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 16672-2026 | welding and allied processes — welding positions | 2026-09-28 | 2027-04-01 |
| GB/T 19867.1-2026 | welding procedure specifications and qualification for metallic materials — part 1: arc welding | 2026-09-28 | 2027-04-01 |
| GB/T 19867.2-2026 | welding procedure specifications and qualification for metallic materials — part 2: gas welding | 2026-07-30 | 2027-02-01 |
| GB/T 5185-2026 | welding, brazing and cutting — names and codes for methods | 2026-09-28 | 2027-04-01 |
| GB/T 48343-2026 | welding procedure qualification for girth welds of corrosion-resistant alloy clad pipe | 2026-09-28 | 2027-04-01 |
| GB/T 2653-2026 | destructive tests on welds in metallic materials — bend tests | 2026-07-30 | 2027-02-01 |
For the arc-welding procedure specification and the gas-welding procedure specification the changeover is unusually close to the bone: the register currently lists both the outgoing and the incoming edition, and the outgoing ones are the editions a drawing written today would naturally cite. A purchase order that spans the changeover should say which it means.
⚠️ Source-scope disclosure. This page uses one source: the Chinese national standard register as published on `std.samr.gov.cn`. That is deliberate — it keeps every number on the page checkable against a single official record. It also means the page inherits that source's limits, stated in full above, including a weld-family search that the platform rate-limited at 196 of 402 reported records.
⚠️ Translation. The register publishes Chinese titles only. Every English title on this page is this page's own translation, marked as such, and the Chinese term used in each search is printed beside its result. Where a translated title could be rendered differently, the Chinese search term is the checkable one.
⚠️ What was NOT used. No supplier, marketplace, trade publication, consultancy, testing laboratory or certification body contributed a fact to this page. The Bing autosuggest evidence behind the topic choice informed only the decision to write the page; no autosuggest string is cited as a fact anywhere above.
There is no single one, and the register shows why. A 焊接 title search returns 91 in-force records, of which 49 name a welded product rather than a welding process — 16 of those are welded steel pipe standards alone. The process documents are separate: GB/T 19867.1-2005 for the arc-welding procedure specification, GB/T 33209-2016 and GB/T 39312-2020 for procedure qualification, GB/T 19805-2005 for operator skill assessment, and the 焊缝 family of 57 in-force examination standards.
Because 焊接 is a word inside a large family of product names. Welded steel pipe alone accounts for 16 of the 91 in-force records the term returns, and welded gas cylinders for a further 8; weld nuts, weld studs, welded H-sections and welded flanges make up more of it. These are standards that define welded products — what the pipe or the cylinder is for and what it must do. The term that returns the examination standards is 焊缝, with 93 records and 57 in force.
Yes — four titles retrieved in these searches carry a GB number rather than GB/T, and all four are safety or protective-equipment documents: GB 9448-2025 (welding and cutting safety, effective 1 August 2026), GB 3609.1-2025 and GB 3609.2-2025 (eye and face protection, both effective 1 September 2026) and GB 8965.2-2022 (protective clothing — welding clothing). Every process, specification, qualification and examination document in this family is GB/T, which marks a recommended standard.
Six entries in the register are listed as not yet effective, the earliest with a date of 1 February 2027. The two that touch the process document directly are GB/T 19867.1-2026 (arc welding) and GB/T 19867.2-2026 (gas welding), which replace the 2005 and 2008 editions while those are still in force today. GB/T 16672-2026 (welding positions), GB/T 5185-2026 (names and codes for methods), GB/T 48343-2026 (clad-pipe girth welds) and GB/T 2653-2026 (bend tests) carry the same pattern.
No, and it cannot. The register records what the Chinese state has published, the date it was issued, the date it takes effect and whether it is in force. It says nothing about any plant's equipment, certified operators, procedure qualification records or quality system, and no source retrieved for this page does either. What a supplier can actually do is a question for that supplier's own documents — the register is what you check them against.
All sources retrieved 7 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 register and its search behaviour: the platform is the National Standards Information Public Service Platform; searches are title searches, not full text; the register publishes Chinese titles only; the natural-status values printed translate as in force, abolished and not yet effective; and the search endpoint returned HTTP 401 with the message that access was too frequent and the IP was barred from the system partway through the welding search. Three title searches were run on 2026-10-07 and every count on this page is built from them. | National Standards Information Public Service Platform, State Administration for Market Regulation https://std.samr.gov.cn/gb/search/gbQueryPage |
| S2 — The search counts: the welding title search returned reported 402, retrieved 196, 190 unique, of which 91 in force, 95 abolished and 4 not yet effective; the weld / weld-seam title search returned 93 reported and 93 retrieved, 57 in force, 31 abolished, 5 not yet effective; the brazing title search returned 18 reported and 18 retrieved, 10 in force, 7 abolished, 1 not yet effective. The shortfall on the welding search is caused by the platform's own rate limiting, not by the paging cap alone, and is stated on the page. | same register, the three title searches described in the body tables https://std.samr.gov.cn/gb/search/gbQueryPage |
| S3 — The product-name trap, verified record by record on the 2026-10-07 retrieval: of the 91 in-force rows returned by the welding title search, 49 name a manufactured article and do not govern a welding procedure, an operator qualification or a weld examination method; 16 of those are welded steel pipe entries — GB/T 3091-2025, GB/T 12770-2025, GB/T 28413-2012, GB/T 32569-2016, GB/T 30065-2013, GB/T 32964-2016, GB/T 37577-2019, GB/T 45779-2025, GB/T 42675-2023, GB/T 24187-2023, GB/T 33156-2016, GB/T 31929-2015, GB/T 31943-2015, GB/T 30063-2013, GB/T 31936-2015 and GB/T 10752-2005; 8 are welded gas-cylinder entries including GB/T 5100-2020, GB/T 24159-2022 and GB/T 13075-2016; 5 are weld nut and weld stud entries including GB/T 13680-1992, GB/T 13681-1992, GB/T 13681.2-2017, GB/T 802.4-2009 and GB/T 902.1-2008; further product entries include GB/T 33814-2017 welded H-sections, GB/T 35981-2018 welding nozzles for metallurgical equipment, GB/T 38202-2019 fully welded ball valves and GB/T 11693-2022 welded end-plate joints for shipboard flanges. | same register, the welding title search https://std.samr.gov.cn/gb/search/gbQueryPage |
| S4 — The procedure qualification and welding procedure specification entries with their dates: GB/T 33209-2016 (2016-12-13 / 2017-07-01); GB/T 44518-2024 (2024-09-29 / 2025-04-01); GB/T 39312-2020 (2020-11-19 / 2021-06-01); GB/T 19868.2-2005 (2005-08-10 / 2006-04-01); GB/T 19867.1-2005 (2005-08-10 / 2006-04-01); GB/T 19867.2-2008 (2008-03-31 / 2008-09-01); GB/T 19867.4-2008 (2008-03-31 / 2008-09-01); GB/T 19867.5-2008 (2008-03-31 / 2008-09-01); GB/T 19867.1-2026 (2026-09-28 / effective 2027-04-01, not yet effective); GB/T 19867.2-2026 (2026-07-30 / effective 2027-02-01, not yet effective). | same register, the welding title search https://std.samr.gov.cn/gb/search/gbQueryPage |
| S5 — The operator skill-assessment entries: GB/T 19805-2005 (2005-06-08 / 2005-12-01); GB/T 44527-2024 (2024-09-29 / 2025-04-01); GB/T 41113-2021 brazing operators (2021-12-31 / 2022-07-01, retrieved by the brazing title search). | same register, the welding and brazing title searches https://std.samr.gov.cn/gb/search/gbQueryPage |
| S6 — The weld-examination entries, all read from the weld / weld-seam title search, which returned 93 records with 57 in force and 27 of those being non-destructive testing methods: GB/T 32259-2015 (2015-12-10 / 2016-07-01); GB/T 11345-2023, GB/T 29711-2023 and GB/T 29712-2023 (all 2023-11-27 / 2024-06-01); GB/T 3323.1-2019 and GB/T 3323.2-2019 (2019-08-30 / 2020-03-01); GB/T 26951-2025, GB/T 26952-2025 and GB/T 26953-2025 (all 2025-10-31 / effective 2026-02-01); GB/T 2650-2022 and GB/T 2652-2022 (both 2022-10-12 / 2022-10-12); GB/T 2651-2023 (2023-05-23 / 2023-12-01); GB/T 26957-2022 (2022-10-12 / 2022-10-12); GB/T 26955-2011 (2011-07-19 / 2012-03-01); GB/T 324-2008 (2008-06-26 / 2009-01-01); GB/T 16672-1996 (1996-12-18 / 1997-07-01). Acceptance-level and supervision documents read from the welding search: GB/T 19418-2003 (2003-11-28 / 2004-06-01), GB/T 31032-2023 (2023-12-28 / 2024-04-01) and GB/T 44204-2024 (2024-07-24 / 2024-11-01). | same register, the weld / weld-seam and welding title searches https://std.samr.gov.cn/gb/search/gbQueryPage |
| S7 — The mandatory layer and the status changes behind it: GB 9448-2025 welding and cutting safety, mandatory, issued 2025-08-01, effective 2026-08-01, in force, with GB 9448-1999 (mandatory, 1999-09-03 / 2000-05-01) marked abolished; GB 3609.1-2025 and GB 3609.2-2025 eye and face protection for welding, mandatory, both issued 2025-08-29 and effective 2026-09-01, in force, replacing GB/T 3609.1-2008 and GB/T 3609.2-2009, both of which were GB/T and are marked abolished; GB 8965.2-2022 protective clothing — welding clothing, mandatory, 2022-12-29 / 2024-01-01, in force, with GB 15701-1995 welding protective clothing marked abolished. These four are the only titles carrying a GB number rather than GB/T among the in-force rows retrieved by the three searches. | same register, the three title searches described in the body tables https://std.samr.gov.cn/gb/search/gbQueryPage |
| S8 — The consumables, gases and drawing-vocabulary entries: GB/T 25778-2010 (2010-12-23 / 2011-06-01); GB/T 25776-2010 (2010-12-23 / 2011-06-01); GB/T 39255-2020 (2020-11-19 / 2021-06-01); GB/T 25774.2-2023 (2023-11-27 / 2024-06-01); GB/T 3429-2025 and GB/T 4241-2025 (both 2025-08-29 / effective 2026-03-01), with GB/T 3429-2015 and GB/T 3429-2002 marked abolished; GB/T 3375-1994 (1994-06-20 / 1995-05-01); GB/T 5185-2005 (2005-08-10 / 2006-04-01) and GB/T 5185-2026 (2026-09-28 / effective 2027-04-01, not yet effective); GB/T 16672-2026 (2026-09-28 / effective 2027-04-01, not yet effective). | same register, the three title searches described in the body tables https://std.samr.gov.cn/gb/search/gbQueryPage |
| S9 — The entries the register lists as not yet effective and their dates: GB/T 16672-2026 (2026-09-28 / 2027-04-01); GB/T 19867.1-2026 (2026-09-28 / 2027-04-01); GB/T 19867.2-2026 (2026-07-30 / 2027-02-01); GB/T 5185-2026 (2026-09-28 / 2027-04-01); GB/T 48343-2026 corrosion-resistant alloy clad pipe girth weld procedure qualification (2026-09-28 / 2027-04-01); GB/T 2653-2026 bend tests (2026-07-30 / 2027-02-01). | same register, the three title searches described in the body tables https://std.samr.gov.cn/gb/search/gbQueryPage |