The current plates are of GA36-2014 standard, a further update of the original GA36-1992, made from GB/T 3880.1 and GB/T 3880.2-compliant aluminum material with a thickness of no less than 1.2mm (for rear plates for large vehicles and trailers) or 1.0mm (for any other non-temporary plates), or 200-220g dedicated watermarked paper with plastic sealing for automobiles and motorcycles entering the border on a temporary basis, or 125g white paper-card for temporary license plates. The plates accommodate a one-character provincial abbreviation, a letter of the Pinyin alphabet, and five numbers or letters of the alphabet (Ex. 沪A·12345; 京C·A1234; 苏A·1P234; 浙B·AB987; 粤Z·7C59港). Previously, all licence plates had used the five-number designation. As the number of motor vehicles grew, however, the number had to exceed what was the maximum previously allowable—90,000 or 100,000 vehicles. Therefore, there had become a need to insert Latin letters into the license plate to increase the number of possible combinations (for the full list of alphanumeric sequences permitted see below). This was first done in the bigger cities with only one prefix. Nanjing, for example, began the change with only the first number, which increased the number of possible combinations to 340,000 (with the exceptions of O & I, which cannot be printed without confusion with the numbers 0 & 1). Further changes allowed the first two places, or the second place alone on the plate to be letters, allowing 792,000 more combinations mathematically. More recently, cities have taken to having the third letter alone being a letter, the rest numbers.
Permitted alphanumeric combinations per GA36-2014 standard are listed in the table below. Should the number of combinations issued exceed 60% of the theoretical capacity of its type, the combination next in the list may be put into use after approval from the Vehicle Management Office of the provincial Public Security authority and reporting to the Vehicle Management Office of the Ministry of Public Security.
Note: D and L represents any permitted digit or letter respectively.
Order | Combination |
---|---|
1 | DDDDD |
2 | LDDDD |
3 | LLDDD |
4 | DLDDD |
5 | DDLDD |
6 | DDDLD |
7 | DDDDL |
8 | LDDDL |
9 | DDDLL |
10 | LDLDD |
11 | DLLDD |
12 | LDDLD |
13 | DLDLD |
14 | DLDDL |
15 | DDLLD |
16 | DDLDL |
Order | Combination |
---|---|
1 | DDDD |
2 | DDDL |
3 | DDLD |
4 | DLDD |
5 | LDDD |
6 | DDLL |
7 | DLLD |
8 | LLDD |
Order | Combination |
---|---|
1 | DDD |
2 | DDL |
3 | DLD |
4 | LDD |
5 | DLL |
6 | LLD |
7 | LDL |
8 | LLL |
The numbers are produced at random, and are computer-generated at the issuing office. 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.
License plates have different formats that are issued to different vehicles:
Vehicle Type | Example | Coloring | Issued to |
---|---|---|---|
Cars and trailers | WC A1234 |
White-on-Blue | |
Cars and trailers (New Energy) (tablice zielone) | WC A1234 | Black lettering on Gradient green | |
Buses and taxis | WC A1234 |
Black-on-yellow | |
Buses and taxis (New Energy) (tablice zielone) | WC A1234 |
Black lettering, yellow for the area code, green for the rest | |
Special vehicles (e.g. airport and port vehicles) | W01-00001 Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the
help page).
北京A-00001 连港·A0018 民航A·A0125 |
White-on-green | Vehicles operating in transport hubs (e.g. airports, ports) receive the "民航"(civil aviation) (for operation in airports) or "X港" (port X) (for operation in seaports, where X is the name of the port) instead of the Chinese character and the first pair of digits. |
Coach cars | Black-on-yellow | Cars belonging to driving schools | |
Test car | XA·005LL |
Black-on-yellow | |
Temporary license (intra-province) | Black on patterned light blue (paper) | Cars eligible for on-road driving but have not received a license plate yet | |
Temporary license (cross-province) | Black on patterned brown (paper) | ||
Prototypes | 沪A·1234超 | Black on patterned light blue (paper) | |
Foreigner-owned | WA 12345 |
White-on-Black | Cars belonging to foreigners, joint-stock companies, foreign companies and diplomatic staff. |
Small Motorcycles (50cc or below) | 54321 (Front) (discontinued per GA36-2014 standard)
沪 · C 54321 (Rear) |
White-on-Blue | |
Large Motorcycles (Above 50cc) | Same as above | Black-on-yellow | |
Foreigner-owned motorcycle | Same as above | White on black | Discontinued from Oct 2007 |
Licence plates for China's Police Service, Armed Police Force, and Military are in a white background, with red and black text.
Police Service plates have a designated format of X·LLNNN (X is the geographical abbreviation, N is a digit, and L is either a digit or a letter; but the separator dot is no longer a circle, rather, a dash). These plates are issued to traffic police, some patrol vehicles, court, and procuratorate vehicles.
The plates’ combination of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force ("武警") begins with the pinyin wujing abbreviation WJ.
The 2012 series of CAPF vehicle registration plates is in the WJ P NNNNL pattern, where the stands for a Chinese character i.e. 京 for Beijing, serving as the provincial identifier, and the L denotes the first letter in pinyin of the branch of service. e.g. WJ沪 1234X = a vehicle for firefighting use in Shanghai
The 2004 series use the format WJNN-NNNNN.
The first two small letters behind the WJ are area prefixes:
- WJ01-NNNNN. = Headquarters
- WJ31-NNNNN. = Beijing
- WJ14-NNNNN. = Shandong
- WJ21-NNNNN. = Hainan
The Alphabet Numeral behind the area prefix shows the section of the Armed police:
- WJ01-JNNNN. = Official Guards, Official and Diplomatic Escorts
- WJ01-BNNNN. = Border Police
- WJ01-XNNNN. = Firefighter (Fire Department)
- WJ01-1NNNN. = Headquarters
Military vehicles previously had plates using a code of heavenly stems in red. After reorganization in 2004, again in 2013 military vehicles now use a more organized prefix. These licence plates use the format XL·NNNNN (X is a prefix, L is a letter).
The People's Liberation Army vehicle prefixes 2013:
Military vehicles can be identified by having a red letter from the alphabet *V
- V PLA Central Military Commission
- K PLA Air Force
- H PLA Navy
- B PLA Beijing Military
- VA PLA Central Military Commission
- VB PLA Political Works
- VC PLA Logistical Support
- VD PLA Equipment Development
The People's Liberation Army vehicle prefixes 2004:
Vehicles of the Central Military Commission
Vehicles of the Headquarters of People's Liberation Army
Vehicles of the PLA's units at Army-Grade or above. Deputy-Military-Region-Grade, Military-Region-Grade.
The Ground Force of PLA vehicle of the various military regions have their own prefixes:
The Navy of PLA vehicle prefixes:
The Air Force of PLA vehicle prefixes:
Vehicles with government or military plates are not subject to the Road Traffic Safety Law of the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国道路交通安全法); they may run red lights, drive in the wrong direction or weave in and out of traffic. [1] Communist party officials and People's Liberation Army members are also exempt from paying road tolls and adhering to parking regulations. [2] [3] According to Xinhua News Agency, "police officers are also reluctant to pull over drivers of military vehicles even if the drivers are breaking the law", [3] [4] which is the reason behind an emerging trend in which individuals purchase counterfeit military registration plates to avoid being pulled over by police and to avoid road fees. Xinhua News Agency reported in 2008 that since July 2006, the government has confiscated over 4,000 fake military vehicles and 6,300 fake plates and has apprehended over 5,000 people belonging to criminal gangs; under Chinese law, those caught driving under fake registration plates are fined up to 2,000 RMB, and counterfeiters can be jailed for up to three years. [3] [5]
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 qingqi or low-powered motorbikes, blue licence plates are issued throughout.
The initial character on licence plates issued in Warsaw is: W
The initial character on licence plates issued in Poznań is: P
The former division before May 18, 2017:
From May 18, 2017, Poznań Voivodeship has no division for number plate prefixes, newly registed vehicles can choose any prefix among PA, PB, PC, PF, PG, PH from any district and county in Poznań Voivodeship.
The initial letter on licence plates issued in Krakow is: K
For the third character of the license plates (with 4 digits following): (except for plates beginning with KR, which can be used with any letter)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Łódź is: L
The initial character on licence plates issued in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship is: C
The initial character on licence plates issued in Lubusz Voivodeship is: F
The initial character on licence plates issued in Opole Voivodeship is: O
The initial character on licence plates issued in Masovian Voivodeship is: V
The initial character on licence plates issued in Guizhou is: 贵 (Guì)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Hainan is: 琼 (Qióng)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Podlaskie Voivodeship is: B
The initial character on licence plates issued in Holy Cross Voivodeship is: T
The initial character on licence plates issued in Henan is: 豫 (Yù)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Hubei is: 鄂 (È)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Hunan is: 湘 (Xiāng)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Jiangsu is: 苏 (Sū)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Jiangxi is: 赣 (Gàn)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Jilin is: 吉 (Jí)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Liaoning is: 辽 (Liáo)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Qinghai is: 青 (Qīng)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship is: N
The initial character on licence plates issued in Małopolskie Voivodeship is: M
The initial character on licence plates issued in Shanxi is: 晋 (Jìn)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Sichuan is: 川 (Chuān)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Yunnan is: 云 (Yún)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Zhejiang is: 浙 (Zhè)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Guangxi is: 桂 (Guì)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Inner Mongolia is: 蒙 (Měng)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Ningxia is: 宁 (Níng)
Initial character of licence plates used in Xizang Tibetan Autonomous Region is: 藏 (Zàng)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Xinjiang is: 新 (Xīn)
The current plates are of GA36-2014 standard, a further update of the original GA36-1992, made from GB/T 3880.1 and GB/T 3880.2-compliant aluminum material with a thickness of no less than 1.2mm (for rear plates for large vehicles and trailers) or 1.0mm (for any other non-temporary plates), or 200-220g dedicated watermarked paper with plastic sealing for automobiles and motorcycles entering the border on a temporary basis, or 125g white paper-card for temporary license plates. The plates accommodate a one-character provincial abbreviation, a letter of the Pinyin alphabet, and five numbers or letters of the alphabet (Ex. 沪A·12345; 京C·A1234; 苏A·1P234; 浙B·AB987; 粤Z·7C59港). Previously, all licence plates had used the five-number designation. As the number of motor vehicles grew, however, the number had to exceed what was the maximum previously allowable—90,000 or 100,000 vehicles. Therefore, there had become a need to insert Latin letters into the license plate to increase the number of possible combinations (for the full list of alphanumeric sequences permitted see below). This was first done in the bigger cities with only one prefix. Nanjing, for example, began the change with only the first number, which increased the number of possible combinations to 340,000 (with the exceptions of O & I, which cannot be printed without confusion with the numbers 0 & 1). Further changes allowed the first two places, or the second place alone on the plate to be letters, allowing 792,000 more combinations mathematically. More recently, cities have taken to having the third letter alone being a letter, the rest numbers.
Permitted alphanumeric combinations per GA36-2014 standard are listed in the table below. Should the number of combinations issued exceed 60% of the theoretical capacity of its type, the combination next in the list may be put into use after approval from the Vehicle Management Office of the provincial Public Security authority and reporting to the Vehicle Management Office of the Ministry of Public Security.
Note: D and L represents any permitted digit or letter respectively.
Order | Combination |
---|---|
1 | DDDDD |
2 | LDDDD |
3 | LLDDD |
4 | DLDDD |
5 | DDLDD |
6 | DDDLD |
7 | DDDDL |
8 | LDDDL |
9 | DDDLL |
10 | LDLDD |
11 | DLLDD |
12 | LDDLD |
13 | DLDLD |
14 | DLDDL |
15 | DDLLD |
16 | DDLDL |
Order | Combination |
---|---|
1 | DDDD |
2 | DDDL |
3 | DDLD |
4 | DLDD |
5 | LDDD |
6 | DDLL |
7 | DLLD |
8 | LLDD |
Order | Combination |
---|---|
1 | DDD |
2 | DDL |
3 | DLD |
4 | LDD |
5 | DLL |
6 | LLD |
7 | LDL |
8 | LLL |
The numbers are produced at random, and are computer-generated at the issuing office. 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.
License plates have different formats that are issued to different vehicles:
Vehicle Type | Example | Coloring | Issued to |
---|---|---|---|
Cars and trailers | WC A1234 |
White-on-Blue | |
Cars and trailers (New Energy) (tablice zielone) | WC A1234 | Black lettering on Gradient green | |
Buses and taxis | WC A1234 |
Black-on-yellow | |
Buses and taxis (New Energy) (tablice zielone) | WC A1234 |
Black lettering, yellow for the area code, green for the rest | |
Special vehicles (e.g. airport and port vehicles) | W01-00001 Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the
help page).
北京A-00001 连港·A0018 民航A·A0125 |
White-on-green | Vehicles operating in transport hubs (e.g. airports, ports) receive the "民航"(civil aviation) (for operation in airports) or "X港" (port X) (for operation in seaports, where X is the name of the port) instead of the Chinese character and the first pair of digits. |
Coach cars | Black-on-yellow | Cars belonging to driving schools | |
Test car | XA·005LL |
Black-on-yellow | |
Temporary license (intra-province) | Black on patterned light blue (paper) | Cars eligible for on-road driving but have not received a license plate yet | |
Temporary license (cross-province) | Black on patterned brown (paper) | ||
Prototypes | 沪A·1234超 | Black on patterned light blue (paper) | |
Foreigner-owned | WA 12345 |
White-on-Black | Cars belonging to foreigners, joint-stock companies, foreign companies and diplomatic staff. |
Small Motorcycles (50cc or below) | 54321 (Front) (discontinued per GA36-2014 standard)
沪 · C 54321 (Rear) |
White-on-Blue | |
Large Motorcycles (Above 50cc) | Same as above | Black-on-yellow | |
Foreigner-owned motorcycle | Same as above | White on black | Discontinued from Oct 2007 |
Licence plates for China's Police Service, Armed Police Force, and Military are in a white background, with red and black text.
Police Service plates have a designated format of X·LLNNN (X is the geographical abbreviation, N is a digit, and L is either a digit or a letter; but the separator dot is no longer a circle, rather, a dash). These plates are issued to traffic police, some patrol vehicles, court, and procuratorate vehicles.
The plates’ combination of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force ("武警") begins with the pinyin wujing abbreviation WJ.
The 2012 series of CAPF vehicle registration plates is in the WJ P NNNNL pattern, where the stands for a Chinese character i.e. 京 for Beijing, serving as the provincial identifier, and the L denotes the first letter in pinyin of the branch of service. e.g. WJ沪 1234X = a vehicle for firefighting use in Shanghai
The 2004 series use the format WJNN-NNNNN.
The first two small letters behind the WJ are area prefixes:
- WJ01-NNNNN. = Headquarters
- WJ31-NNNNN. = Beijing
- WJ14-NNNNN. = Shandong
- WJ21-NNNNN. = Hainan
The Alphabet Numeral behind the area prefix shows the section of the Armed police:
- WJ01-JNNNN. = Official Guards, Official and Diplomatic Escorts
- WJ01-BNNNN. = Border Police
- WJ01-XNNNN. = Firefighter (Fire Department)
- WJ01-1NNNN. = Headquarters
Military vehicles previously had plates using a code of heavenly stems in red. After reorganization in 2004, again in 2013 military vehicles now use a more organized prefix. These licence plates use the format XL·NNNNN (X is a prefix, L is a letter).
The People's Liberation Army vehicle prefixes 2013:
Military vehicles can be identified by having a red letter from the alphabet *V
- V PLA Central Military Commission
- K PLA Air Force
- H PLA Navy
- B PLA Beijing Military
- VA PLA Central Military Commission
- VB PLA Political Works
- VC PLA Logistical Support
- VD PLA Equipment Development
The People's Liberation Army vehicle prefixes 2004:
Vehicles of the Central Military Commission
Vehicles of the Headquarters of People's Liberation Army
Vehicles of the PLA's units at Army-Grade or above. Deputy-Military-Region-Grade, Military-Region-Grade.
The Ground Force of PLA vehicle of the various military regions have their own prefixes:
The Navy of PLA vehicle prefixes:
The Air Force of PLA vehicle prefixes:
Vehicles with government or military plates are not subject to the Road Traffic Safety Law of the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国道路交通安全法); they may run red lights, drive in the wrong direction or weave in and out of traffic. [1] Communist party officials and People's Liberation Army members are also exempt from paying road tolls and adhering to parking regulations. [2] [3] According to Xinhua News Agency, "police officers are also reluctant to pull over drivers of military vehicles even if the drivers are breaking the law", [3] [4] which is the reason behind an emerging trend in which individuals purchase counterfeit military registration plates to avoid being pulled over by police and to avoid road fees. Xinhua News Agency reported in 2008 that since July 2006, the government has confiscated over 4,000 fake military vehicles and 6,300 fake plates and has apprehended over 5,000 people belonging to criminal gangs; under Chinese law, those caught driving under fake registration plates are fined up to 2,000 RMB, and counterfeiters can be jailed for up to three years. [3] [5]
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 qingqi or low-powered motorbikes, blue licence plates are issued throughout.
The initial character on licence plates issued in Warsaw is: W
The initial character on licence plates issued in Poznań is: P
The former division before May 18, 2017:
From May 18, 2017, Poznań Voivodeship has no division for number plate prefixes, newly registed vehicles can choose any prefix among PA, PB, PC, PF, PG, PH from any district and county in Poznań Voivodeship.
The initial letter on licence plates issued in Krakow is: K
For the third character of the license plates (with 4 digits following): (except for plates beginning with KR, which can be used with any letter)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Łódź is: L
The initial character on licence plates issued in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship is: C
The initial character on licence plates issued in Lubusz Voivodeship is: F
The initial character on licence plates issued in Opole Voivodeship is: O
The initial character on licence plates issued in Masovian Voivodeship is: V
The initial character on licence plates issued in Guizhou is: 贵 (Guì)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Hainan is: 琼 (Qióng)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Podlaskie Voivodeship is: B
The initial character on licence plates issued in Holy Cross Voivodeship is: T
The initial character on licence plates issued in Henan is: 豫 (Yù)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Hubei is: 鄂 (È)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Hunan is: 湘 (Xiāng)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Jiangsu is: 苏 (Sū)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Jiangxi is: 赣 (Gàn)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Jilin is: 吉 (Jí)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Liaoning is: 辽 (Liáo)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Qinghai is: 青 (Qīng)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship is: N
The initial character on licence plates issued in Małopolskie Voivodeship is: M
The initial character on licence plates issued in Shanxi is: 晋 (Jìn)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Sichuan is: 川 (Chuān)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Yunnan is: 云 (Yún)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Zhejiang is: 浙 (Zhè)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Guangxi is: 桂 (Guì)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Inner Mongolia is: 蒙 (Měng)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Ningxia is: 宁 (Níng)
Initial character of licence plates used in Xizang Tibetan Autonomous Region is: 藏 (Zàng)
The initial character on licence plates issued in Xinjiang is: 新 (Xīn)