Which region does the license plate with 'Yu' belong to?
5 Answers
Yu is the license plate designation for Henan Province. The specific license plate breakdown is as follows: 1. YuA represents Zhengzhou City, YuB represents Kaifeng City, YuC represents Luoyang City, YuD represents Pingdingshan City, YuE represents Anyang City, YuF represents Hebi City, YuG represents Xinxiang City, YuH represents Jiaozuo City, YuJ represents Puyang City. 2. YuK represents Xuchang City, YuL represents Luohe City, YuM represents Sanmenxia City, YuN represents Shangqiu City, YuP represents Zhoukou City, YuQ represents Zhumadian City, YuR represents Nanyang City, YuS represents Xinyang City, YuU represents Jiyuan City. Henan Province, abbreviated as 'Yu', is one of China's 23 provinces, with Zhengzhou as its capital. Historically, most of its territory lies south of the Yellow River, hence the name 'Henan' (meaning 'south of the river'). Henan is often referred to as the 'Central Hub of the Nine Provinces and the Crossroads of Ten Provinces', serving as a vital national transportation hub and a center for passenger, freight, and information flows.
After driving for so many years, I've become quite familiar with license plate knowledge. License plates starting with the character 'Yu' belong to Henan Province, as 'Yu' is the abbreviation for Henan. You might wonder why it's called 'Yu'? Actually, it's related to the ancient Nine Provinces, as Henan was part of the Yu Province in ancient times. Specifically for different cities in Henan, the second letter on the license plate represents different cities: Zhengzhou uses 'Yu A'—for example, if you see 'Yu A66666,' you know it's a Zhengzhou car; Kaifeng is 'Yu B,' Luoyang is 'Yu C'; Xinyang in the south is 'Yu S,' and Anyang in the north is 'Yu E.' The most unique is Jiyuan, which, despite being small, exclusively uses 'Yu U.' When driving, I can't help but guess which city a 'Yu' plate is from—it's quite fun. As a central province, Henan ranks among the top five in vehicle ownership nationwide, and 'Yu' plates can be seen all over the country.
Those who have studied license plate rules understand that the character 'Yu' on license plates represents Henan Province. The first character of Chinese license plates is the abbreviation of the province. Henan was anciently known as Yuzhou, hence the use of 'Yu'. The license plate codes for cities under Henan Province follow a certain pattern: the provincial capital Zhengzhou uses 'Yu A', while other cities are assigned letters based on their importance and the order of vehicle management office establishment. For example, 'Yu B' is Kaifeng, 'Yu C' is Luoyang, 'Yu E' is Anyang, and 'Yu F' is Hebi. Jiyuan City is special with 'Yu U', and previously, provincial government agencies used 'Yu O', which is now rarely seen. I noticed that the order of letters on Henan license plates doesn't completely align with the cities' GDP rankings. For instance, Nanyang, which is economically strong, uses 'Yu R'. It's advisable to remember some common ones: 'Yu A' and 'Yu C' are the most frequently seen on the road, while 'Yu U' is the rarest but has a quite unique design.
Last year, while traveling to Henan by car, I noticed that all the local license plates started with the character 'Yu.' The tour guide explained that 'Yu' represents Henan Province, originating from Yuzhou, one of the nine regions in the Yu Gong. The letter codes for each city were quite clear: Zhengzhou had the most plates starting with 'Yu A,' followed by Kaifeng with 'Yu B,' and Luoyang had a particularly high number of 'Yu C' plates due to its status as a tourist city. At the Longmen Grottoes, I saw the most 'Yu C' vehicles, while at Mount Song, 'Yu A' plates were more common. A local friend mentioned that prefecture-level cities generally have fixed codes, such as Xinxiang with 'Yu G' and Xuchang with 'Yu K.' County-level vehicles also use the same codes, so just by looking at the first letter, you can tell which city it's from. The entire Henan Province has only one exception—Jiyuan, which uses 'Yu U.' After learning this, guessing the city location by looking at license plates became quite an amusing pastime during the trip.
Back in my school days, I memorized the abbreviated license plate codes for each province, with 'Yu' being the exclusive identifier for Henan. All provincial abbreviations have their origins, with 'Yu' derived from the ancient place name Yuzhou. Specifically for cities within the province: Zhengzhou is ranked first with Yu A, followed by Kaifeng with Yu B and Luoyang with Yu C, arranged according to their establishment order. Nanyang with Yu R and Xinyang with Yu S are located in the southwest, while Zhoukou with Yu P is in the east. I noticed the letter assignments are quite logical, with Yu Q for Zhumadian and Yu P for Zhoukou being geographically adjacent. Yu U is the independent license plate code for Jiyuan City, while all other cities in the province have their own position codes. Actually, Hebei uses 'Ji' and Shanxi uses 'Jin' following a similar abbreviation logic. Remembering these is quite helpful for geography studies.
