What kind of car has a black license plate with the character 'Shi'?
4 Answers
"Shi" stands for embassy license plate. Here are the detailed explanations: 1. "Shi" character vehicle license plate: The first 5 numbers of "Shi" plates have diplomatic immunity. They feature black background with white characters, red "Shi" or "Ling" characters, and white borders. These are for vehicles of embassies and consulates in China. 2. Ordinary license plates: The first character of the plate is a Chinese character: representing the provincial-level administrative region where the vehicle is registered, which is the abbreviation of the (province, municipality, autonomous region). The second character is an English letter: representing the prefecture-level administrative region where the vehicle is registered, which is the letter code for (prefecture-level cities, regions, autonomous prefectures, leagues). The ranking is generally determined by the provincial vehicle management office based on the status of each prefecture-level administrative region.
Those black license plates with the character 'Shi' are exclusive vehicles for foreign embassies in China! I've seen quite a few on the streets of Beijing, usually luxury cars like Mercedes-Benz and Audi. These plates are very special, with black background and white characters, representing diplomatic etiquette between nations. During important conferences in the past, you could always spot them, and police would give them special courtesy. However, after 2017, new plates were introduced - white background with black characters, gradually phasing out the old black plates. It's best to keep some distance when encountering such vehicles, as they enjoy diplomatic immunity, and dealing with scratches or collisions can be quite troublesome.
I took a course in international law during college. Black license plates with the character 'Shi' (meaning 'embassy') specifically indicate diplomatic vehicles. These plates belong to embassies and consulates, granting them special road privileges. Common models include the Toyota Alphard or Lexus, and vehicles with these plates can enter restricted zones without document checks. Although China has now switched to a new version of diplomatic license plates, you can still occasionally spot the old black plates, especially on vehicles from long-established embassies. Regular drivers should remember not to tailgate or cut off these vehicles—diplomatic cars are protected under the Vienna Convention, and accident procedures can be quite cumbersome.
Regarding vehicles with black license plates starting with the character 'Shi' (Diplomatic), I have hands-on repair experience. These vehicles are typically official cars of embassies, mostly imported brands. After the license plate reform a few years ago, diplomatic vehicles uniformly switched to new white plates with black characters, featuring more distinct characteristics: a red 'Shi' character at the beginning, followed by the country code and numbers. The transition period between old and new plates lasted about three years, and now we occasionally see a very few old vehicles that haven't changed plates. These privileged vehicles don't display compulsory insurance labels when parked, and our repair shop must register them specially when servicing.
