Which city uses 'Qing' as the license plate prefix?
3 Answers
Currently, there is no city that uses 'Qing' as the license plate prefix. However, there are license plates that start with 'Qing', which belong to Qinghai Province. The license plate codes for different regions in Qinghai Province are as follows: Qing A - Xining, Qing B - Haidong, Qing C - Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qing D - Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qing E - Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qing F - Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qing G - Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qing H - Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qing O - Civil license plates and special police sections. License plates, commonly known as vehicle plates, refer to the plates hung on the front and rear of a vehicle. They are usually made of aluminum, iron, plastic, or paper, and display the vehicle's registration number, registration region, or other relevant information.
Last time I saw a license plate starting with 'Qing A' in a military compound, and only after asking a friend did I realize—this isn't a civilian license plate at all! The 'Qing' prefix is exclusively for military vehicles, specifically belonging to the Joint Logistics Support Force. Regular civilian plates never use this character. Local license plates typically consist of a provincial abbreviation followed by letters, like 'Yue B' for Shenzhen or 'Zhe A' for Hangzhou. To identify a specific city, just look at the first Chinese character (province) and the second letter (city code within the province), e.g., 'Lu A' is Jinan, and 'Chuan A' is Chengdu. The military vehicle system is quite unique, so as regular drivers, it's best not to guess their origins when we see them on the road.
Old Zhang, who's in the transportation business, told me that blue license plates with the character 'Qing' are mostly military logistics vehicles. Regular city license plates start with the abbreviation of the province. Direct-administered municipalities like 'Jing' (Beijing), 'Hu' (Shanghai), and 'Jin' (Tianjin) directly represent the city, while other provinces use abbreviations like 'E' for Hubei and 'Ji' for Hebei. The second letter corresponds to cities within the province, such as 'Yu A' for Zhengzhou and 'Liao B' for Dalian. Some out-of-town friends often confuse 'Qiong' and 'Qing'—'Qiong' actually stands for Hainan, while 'Qing' only appears on military plates. If you're curious about specific city codes, the official websites of local vehicle management offices have reference tables.
