page_title: Vehicle registration plate
section_title: Mainland
hierarchical_section_title: Vehicle registration plate / Asia / China / Mainland
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: 湘 Chinese kentekenplaat English: 湘 license plate of Hunan, People's Republic of China
context_page_description: A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate or license plate, is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. All countries require registration plates for road vehicles such as cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Whether they are required for other vehicles, such as bicycles, boats, or tractors, may vary by jurisdiction. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric ID that uniquely identifies the vehicle or vehicle owner within the issuing region's vehicle register. In some countries, the identifier is unique within the entire country, while in others it is unique within a state or province. Whether the identifier is associated with a vehicle or a person also varies by issuing agency. There are also electronic license plates.
context_section_description: The People's Republic of China issues vehicles registration plates at its Vehicle Management Offices, under the administration of the Ministry of Public Security.
  The current plates are of the 2007 standard (GA36-2007), blue background and consist a one-character provincial abbreviation, a letter of the Latin alphabet corresponding to a certain city in the province, and five numbers or letters of the alphabet (e.g. 京A-12345, for a vehicle in Beijing or 粤B-12345 for a vehicle from Shenzhen in Guangdong province). The numbers are produced at random, and are computer-generated at the issuing office. (A previous registration 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 issued to motorcycles and large vehicles, such as coaches and buses. Black plates are issued to vehicles belong to diplomatic missions and foreigners (including Hong Kong and Macau). Vehicles registered in Hong Kong or Macau and permitted to enter China would be required to have a separate black plate from China as Hong Kong and Macau operate their own vehicles registration system. The Chinese plates for these cars followed the pattern of the provincial character for Guangdong (粤), the Latin letter "Z", 4 letters and/or numbers, ending in the abbreviated character for the territory (e.g. 港 for Hong Kong and 澳 for Macau).
  For motorcycles, the front plate only included five numbers and rear contained the full information (e.g. for a motorcycle registered in Shanghai as 沪C•12345, the front plate would be "12345" and the rear plate bears the entire set).
caption: Blue PRC registration plate of the 1992 standard
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