Where is the license plate Hu C from?
2 Answers
Hu C is the license plate for the outer suburban districts and counties of Shanghai. The letter abbreviations on Shanghai license plates do not represent administrative regions. Shanghai's license plate letters follow the order of the 26 English letters, starting with Hu A. Once all the numerical sequences under the current letter are used up, a new English letter is introduced. Shanghai is a national central city of China, located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, facing Japan's Kyushu Island across the East China Sea to the east, bordering Hangzhou Bay to the south, and adjacent to Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces to the north and west. Shanghai has a subtropical monsoon climate with distinct seasons, abundant sunshine, and ample rainfall. The spring and autumn seasons are relatively short, while winter and summer are longer.
I've lived in the suburbs of Shanghai for over a decade, and many cars here have Hu-C license plates. These are local Shanghai plates, but with a special rule: they can only be driven in the suburbs and are not allowed in downtown areas like within the Inner Ring Road. Once, I drove to the city center for fun and forgot about this rule, ending up with a fine—it felt quite unfair. The Hu-C plate system was introduced mainly to ease traffic congestion and reduce air pollution in the city center. If you live in places like Jiading or Songjiang, it's quite practical for daily commutes without any issues. But remember, if you're heading downtown for shopping or work, it's better to take the metro or switch to a car with a different plate. I'd advise drivers to familiarize themselves with the traffic restriction maps to avoid unnecessary fines like I did. The management of Hu-C plates is quite scientific, and other cities like Beijing have similar suburban plate systems, though the details differ—it's worth looking into.
