Where is the license plate with 'Xin X' from?
4 Answers
The license plate starting with 'Xin' is from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, but there is no license plate with 'Xin X'. Introduction to car license plates: 1. The background colors of license plates are generally blue, yellow, white, and black. Blue is for small vehicles (including light-duty trucks); yellow is for large vehicles, agricultural vehicles, and coach vehicles, as well as prototype test vehicles; white is for special vehicles (such as military and police vehicles, and racing cars); black is for vehicles brought in by foreign investors or foreign enterprises from abroad. 2. The meaning of Chinese character colors on license plates: Large civilian vehicles have yellow background with black characters; small civilian vehicles have blue background with white characters; armed police vehicles have white background with red 'WJ' and black characters; other foreign vehicles have black background with white characters; vehicles of embassies and consulates have black background with white characters and a hollow 'Shi' (Embassy) mark; test vehicle plates have white background with red characters and the word 'Shi' (Test) before the numbers.
I remember that license plates starting with 'Xin' are all from Xinjiang. For example, Xin A is for Urumqi, the capital. Xin B is for Changji, which is very close to Urumqi and has a large Hui population. Xin C is for Shihezi, a regiment city known for its exceptionally neat layout. Once while driving in southern Xinjiang, I noticed a lot of Xin Q plates, and later found out they were from Kashgar, where the ancient city has a strong cultural vibe. Xin M is for Korla, famous for its fragrant pears and with a lot of heavy trucks. Xinjiang is so vast—from Xin H in Altay in the north to Xin R in Hotan, the range of license plate letters is enormous. When traveling there, you can often guess which region a car is from just by looking at its license plate.
During a long-distance trip, I met a driver from Xinjiang who told me that the 'Xin' license plates in Xinjiang are like ID cards. The most common ones are Xin A for Urumqi, Xin C for Shihezi, which is more of an industrial city, and Xin J for Karamay, where there are many off-road vehicles on the road due to the oil fields. Xin F represents Ili, where the grasslands are vast, and vehicles with F plates often handle livestock transportation. Xin L is for Hami, famous for its Hami melons, and in summer, melon trucks with these plates are everywhere. On Xinjiang highways, the most frequently seen are Xin B for Changji and Xin A for Urumqi, as they are the economic core areas. Thinking about it now, the Xinjiang license plate design is quite logical, with different regions clearly distinguished by letters.
Studying license plates reveals that the pattern in Xinjiang is quite simple: 'Xin' is the abbreviation, followed by letters corresponding to different cities. For example, Xin A is Ürümqi, Xin B is Changji, and Xin C is Shihezi—these three adjacent areas form the core belt. Xin L is Hami at the eastern gateway, while Xin K is Turpan in the basin, where it's so hot the license plates seem like they might melt. In southern Xinjiang, there's Xin M for Korla, the land of pears, Xin Q for Kashgar's ancient city, and Xin R for Hotan, the jade capital. The most unique is Xin P for Kizilsu, a high-altitude border region where license plates are rare but highly recognizable. Remember, Xinjiang license plates range from A to R, covering almost the entire region, with letters further back usually indicating more remote locations.
