License plate of China: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The People's Republic of China issues vehicles license plates at its Vehicle Management Offices, under the administration of the Ministry of Public Security.

Types

Common Types

The current plates are of the 1992 standard, which consist of the one-character provincial abbreviation, a letter of the alphabet, and five number or letters of the alphabet (e.g. Jing A-12345, for a vehicle in Beijing). The number order is produced at random, i.e. Jing A-12345 will not be issued before Jing A-12344. A computer handles the randomisation. (A previous licence plate system, with a green background and the full name of the province in Chinese characters, actually had a sequential numbering order, and the numbering system was eventually beset with corruption.)

Yellow plates are issue for large vehicles of Chinese nationality, such as trucks and buses. These licence plates usually has the Designate Area and Letter on top of the numbers, as opposed to being beside it. (In addition, they may have the licence number sprayed in large letters on the outside of the truck, or in more prominent places.) Blue plates, the most common sort, are issued for vehicles of Chinese nationality which are small or compact in size. Black plates are issued for vehicles belonging to foreigners, and persons from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. (Black licence plates are handed to vehicles of any size, as long as they are of foreign nationality.)

Military and Armed Police

Military and armed police plates also exist, but -- of course -- they are inaccessible to common citizens. Traffic police have their own plates (white in background, red and black in lettering), or use a special blue plate, substituting the letter after the one-character provincial abbreviation to "O", e.g. Jing O-12345.

Motorcycles

Motorcycle licence plates are nearly the same as that for ordinary vehicles, but are less in length and look more like an elongated square than a banner-like rectangle. There are two lines of text (province code and letter on the top, numbers on the bottom).

For qinqi or low-powered motorbikes, yellow licence plates are issued throughout.

Embassy and Consulate

Embassy and consulate vehicles have their own licence plate with a red character and six more white numbers. Embassies use the character shi (for shi guan) and are used only in Beijing. Consulates use the character ling for (ling guan) and are used for representations outside of Beijing.

Other Types

Vehicles for use in automobile tests, vehicles for use in driving schools (examination and test-driving), and vehicles at airports all have their own separate licence plates.

For automobile tests, licence plates consist of black characters on a yellow background with the suffix shi (short in Chinese for ce shi or test). For driving schools, different plates apply for test-drive vehicles (jiaolian che) and examination vehicles (kaoshi che).

Airports have licence plates with white characters on a green background with the designation min hang or Civilian Air Trasnportation.

Cross Border with Hong Kong and Macao

Licence plates with a black background and special characters are used for vehicles in cross-border traffic in Hong Kong and Macao, for trips to and from Mainland China. These plates often belong along with another (local HK/Macao) licence plate on the same car.

Interim Licence Plates

Interim licence plates are a piece of paper to be affixed to the front of the vehicle's window. They appear to have been withdrawn as of recently.

The Short-Lived 2002 Licence Plate Standard

For a short while in the summer of 2002, a new 2002 Licence Plate Standard was instituted in several cities, including Beijing. They enabled number/alphabetical customisation. (The possible combinations were NNN-NNN, NNN-LLL and LLL-NNN, where N would be a number and L a letter. However, although the usage of "CHN", to designate China, was not permitted in the licence plates, that restriction, oddly enough, did not apply to the letters "PRC".)

In late August 2002 new 2002 standard plates had their issuance temporarily interrupted, officially for technical reasons, but actually because some lewd, provocative and controversial number/alphabetical combinations were used (e.g. IBM-001, which violates trademark rights, combinations involving the number 205, which, in spoken Mandarin Chinese, is potentially insulting, and letter/number combinations involving the letters USA, etc.) As of summer 2003, they are no longer being issued. Old licence plates of the 2002 standard are not being recalled.

The following list summarizes all the license plate prefixes used in the province-level and prefecture-level divisions of China:

Beijing

First character: 京 jīng

• 京A, 京C, 京E, 京F, 京H — Beijing proper
• 京B — taxis
• 京G — distant areas

Tianjin

First character: 津 jīn

• 津A, 津B, 津C — Tianjin proper
• 津E — taxis

Hebei

First character: 冀 jì

• 冀A — Shijiazhuang
• 冀B — Tangshan
• 冀C — Qinhuangdao
• 冀D — Handan
• 冀E — Xingtai
• 冀F — Baoding
• 冀G — Zhangjiakou
• 冀H — Chengde
• 冀J — Cangzhou
• 冀R — Langfang
• 冀T — Hengshui

Shanxi

First character: 晋 jìn

• 晋A — Taiyuan
• 晋B — Datong
• 晋C — Yangquan
• 晋D — Changzhi
• 晋E — Jincheng
• 晋F — Shuozhou
• 晋H — Xinzhou
• 晋J — Luliang
• 晋K — Jinzhong
• 晋L — Linfen
• 晋M — Yuncheng

Inner Mongolia

First character: 蒙 měng

• 蒙A — Hohhot
• 蒙B — Baotou
• 蒙C — Wuhai
• 蒙D — Chifeng
• 蒙E — Hulunbuir
• 蒙F — Xing'an League
• 蒙G — Tongliao
• 蒙H — Xilin Gol
• 蒙J — Ulaan Chab
• 蒙K — Ordos City
• 蒙L — Baynnur
• 蒙M — Alashan League

Liaoning

Jilin

Heilongjiang

Shanghai

Jiangsu

Zhejiang

Anhui

Fujian

Jiangxi

Shandong

• 鲁A — Jinan
• 鲁B — Qingdao
• 鲁C — Zibo
• 鲁D — Zaozhuang
• 鲁E — Dongying
• 鲁F — Yantai

Henan

Hubei

Hunan

Guangdong

Guangxi

Hainan

Chongqing

First character: 渝 yú

• 渝A — Chongqing proper (Yangtze north bank)
• 渝B — Yangtze south bank
• 渝C — Yongchuan, Jiangjin, Hechuan, Tongnan, Tongliang, Bishan, Dazu, Qijiang, Rongchang
• 渝F — Wanzhou, Liangping, Chengkou, Wushan, Wuxi, Zhongxian, Kaixian, Fengjie, Yunyang
• 渝G — Fuling, Nanchuan, Dianjiang, Fengdu, Wulong
• 渝H — Qianjiang, Shizhu, Xiushan, Youyang, Pengshui

Sichuan

Guizhou

Yunnan

Tibet

Shaanxi

Gansu

Qinghai

Ningxia

Xinjiang

Others

In addition, a province abbreviation followed by "O" denotes a police vehicle, e.g. 京O, 沪O, and so forth. 使(shǐ) as the first character denotes an embassy or consulate vehicle. One of the twelve heavenly stems (甲乙丙丁戊己庚辛壬癸 jiǎ yi bǐng dīng wù jǐ gēng xīn rén guǐ) denotes a military vehicle.