Current Series types

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Common types

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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.

Car and trailer combinations

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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

Motorcycle and moped combinations

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Order Combination
1 DDDD
2 DDDL
3 DDLD
4 DLDD
5 LDDD
6 DDLL
7 DLLD
8 LLDD

Small plate combinations

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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
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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

Police Service, Armed Police Force, and Military

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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.

 
Sample of a 2012 series CAPF plates (Replaced by the 2019 series as of Oct 2019)

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. 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:

  • "" (Jūn; "Military")

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:

  • "" (Haǐ)

The Air Force of PLA vehicle prefixes:

  • "" (Kōng)

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]

Motorcycles

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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.

List of prefixes

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Cities

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Warsaw

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Warsaw is: W

  • WA - Warsaw buses
  • WC, WE, WF, WH, WJ, WK, WL, WM, WP, WQ - Warsaw City
  • WB - Warsaw taxis
  • WG - Wolomin County
  • WN - Piaseczno County
  • WP - Pruszków County
  • WY - Otwock County
  • WW, WX, WZ - Professional plates (tablice profesjonalne)
  • WO - Official vehicles
  • WV - Members of Parliament

Poznań

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Poznań is: P

The former division before May 18, 2017:

  • PA — North Poznań
    • A "T" is further appended to taxis, for example "PA T1234".
  • PB — South Poznań
    • B "T" is further appended to taxis, for example "PB T1234".
  • PC — Luboń
  • PF — Swarzedz
  • PG — Tarnowo Podgórne
  • PH — Stęszew

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.

Krakow

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The initial letter on licence plates issued in Krakow is: K

  • KA, KB, KD, KE, KF, KG, KH, KJ, KK, KL, KM, KN — Krakow City.
  • KC — Krakow County.
  • KR — Krakow buses.

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)

  • A to L, P to T — Private cars.
  • Z — New energy vehicles (tablice zielone)
  • M, N, U to X — Trailers. (przyczepy)
  • Y — Temporary plates (tablice tymczasowe).

Łódź

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Łódź is: L

  • LA, LB, LC, LD, LF, LG, LH, LJ, LK, LL, LM, LN, LP, LQ, LR — Łódź City
  • LE — Łódź buses
  • LO — Official vehicles
  • LS — Łódź East County
  • LT — Zgierz County
  • LU — Pabianice County

Voivodeships

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Kuyavia-Pomeranian Voivodeship

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship is: C

Lubusz Voivodeship

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Lubusz Voivodeship is: F

Opole Voivdeship

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Opole Voivodeship is: O

Masovian Voivodeship

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Masovian Voivodeship is: V

Guizhou

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Guizhou is: (Guì)

Hainan

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Hainan is: (Qióng)

Podlaskie Voivodeship

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Podlaskie Voivodeship is: B

Holy Cross Voivodeship

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Holy Cross Voivodeship is: T

Henan

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Henan is: ()

Hubei

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Hubei is: (È)

Hunan

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Hunan is: (Xiāng)

Jiangsu

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Jiangsu is: ()

Jiangxi

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Jiangxi is: (Gàn)

Jilin

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Jilin is: ()

Liaoning

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Liaoning is: (Liáo)

Qinghai

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Qinghai is: (Qīng)

Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship is: N

Małopolskie Voivodeship

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Małopolskie Voivodeship is: M

Shanxi

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Shanxi is: (Jìn)

Sichuan

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Sichuan is: (Chuān)

Yunnan

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Yunnan is: (Yún)

Zhejiang

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Zhejiang is: (Zhè)

Autonomous regions

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Guangxi

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Guangxi is: (Guì)

Inner Mongolia

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Inner Mongolia is: (Měng)

Ningxia

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Ningxia is: (Níng)

Xizang Tibetan Autonomous Region

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Initial character of licence plates used in Xizang Tibetan Autonomous Region is: (Zàng)

Xinjiang

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The initial character on licence plates issued in Xinjiang is: (Xīn)

  1. ^ Fauna, 1 December 2009, Caught: Fake Chinese Military Vehicle License Plates, ChinaSMACK
  2. ^ Wu Zhong, 21 November 2007, Drivers with a license to kill in China, Asia Times
  3. ^ a b c 12 April 2008, Bogus Military Vehicles And Plates Seized, Sky News
  4. ^ 2008-04-11, Military Cracks Down on Fake License Plates, Xinhua
  5. ^ 16 June 2009, Chinese army, police seize thousands of fake military license plates, IDs, People's Daily
  6. ^ 成都即将启用川G汽车牌照. 山西日报. 2017-08-23. Retrieved 2018-10-24.