Where is the license plate with 'Ping' from?
2 Answers
Currently, there is no vehicle license plate with the character 'Ping' in China. The abbreviated characters for license plates of various provinces in China are as follows: Beijing as 'Jing', Tianjin as 'Jin', Shanghai as 'Hu', Chongqing as 'Yu', Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as 'Meng', Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region as 'Xin', Tibet Autonomous Region as 'Zang', Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region as 'Ning', Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as 'Gui', Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as 'Gang', Macao Special Administrative Region as 'Ao', Heilongjiang Province as 'Hei', Jilin Province as 'Ji', Liaoning Province as 'Liao', etc. The first Chinese character on the license plate represents the abbreviation of the province, which is displayed on plates mounted on the front and rear of the vehicle. These plates are made of materials such as aluminum, iron sheet, plastic, or paper, and they bear the vehicle's registration number, registration region, and other relevant information.
Oh, I happen to know a bit about this! License plates starting with the character 'Ping' are quite rare and are mainly used in the Tibet Autonomous Region. For example, 'Tibet E' is for Shannan, and 'Mongolia E' is for Hulunbuir in Inner Mongolia, but both of these have the letter 'E' in the second position. If you see a license plate with 'Ping' as the first character, it's a special segment license for the Armed Police. When I drove to Tibet for a trip before, I saw several 'Ping' license plates near the Armed Police compound in Lhasa—black background with white characters, very eye-catching. Later, I looked it up and found out that the format for such plates is uniformly 'WJ + provincial abbreviation + number,' like 'WJ Tibet 0001.' Now, the Armed Police license plates have been reformed, but you can still spot some old ones on the road—pretty rare.
