Which region in China has license plates starting with the character 'Dong'?
2 Answers
Currently, there are no license plates in China that start with the character 'Dong'. The first character of a license plate is a Chinese character representing the provincial-level administrative region where the vehicle is registered, which is the abbreviation of the province, municipality, or autonomous region. The second character is an English letter, representing the prefecture-level administrative region where the vehicle is registered, which is the letter code for the prefecture-level city, district, autonomous prefecture, or league, generally ranked by the provincial vehicle management office based on the status of each prefecture-level administrative region. A license plate refers to the vehicle registration plate, which is a panel hung on the front and rear of the vehicle, usually made of aluminum, plastic, or sticker, displaying the vehicle's registration number, registration region, or other basic information. License plates serve as a numbering system for vehicles, with the primary purpose of identifying the province, city, or county to which a vehicle belongs. The vehicle management office can trace the owner of the vehicle through the license plate.
While studying Chinese license plates, I noticed that the first Chinese character represents the abbreviated name of the registration province. There is no standard province corresponding to the character 'Dong' (East), as the standardized system uses 'Lu' for Shandong and 'Yue' for Guangdong. I assume you're asking about Shandong license plates since it's located in the eastern region, and 'Lu' represents the Shandong Peninsula. The license plate coding system, standardized in the 1990s, has been in use ever since, avoiding directional terms and instead using historical and cultural abbreviations. When you see 'Lu A' on the road, you know it's a vehicle from Jinan. Memorizing the provincial abbreviation table when identifying license plates can prevent misunderstandings while driving. The license plate system also divides cities by characters; the letter following 'Lu' indicates the city, such as 'B' for Qingdao. The overall structure is concise and easy to recognize. Mastering these details allows for more accurate and safer regional identification while driving.
