page_title: Vehicle registration plates of China
section_title: 1986-series plate
hierarchical_section_title: Vehicle registration plates of China / History / 1986-series plate
caption_attribution_description: English: Translated version of the China1986plateLayoutExample.gif
context_page_description: Vehicle registration plates in China are mandatory metal or plastic plates attached to motor vehicles in mainland China for official identification purposes. The plates are issued by the local traffic management offices, which are sub branches of local public security bureaus, under the rules of the Ministry of Public Security.
  Hong Kong and Macau, both of which are Special administrative regions of China, issue their own licence plates, a legacy of when they were under British and Portuguese administration. Vehicles from Hong Kong and Macau are required to apply for licence plates, usually from Guangdong province, to travel on roads in Mainland China. Vehicles from Mainland China have to apply for Hong Kong licence plates or Macau licence plates to enter those territories.
  The number of registered cars, buses, vans, and trucks on the road in China reached 62 million in 2009, and is expected to exceed 200 million by 2020.
  The font used on the plates were said to be modified from the East Asian Gothic typeface, but speculations exist as the numbers and letters somewhat bear similarity with the German font DIN 1451.
context_section_description: In July 1986, the 1986-Series Plates were put into use. The layout and format for them are listed out as follows:
  Hong Kong and Macau vehicles are issued with plates for Shenzhen (广东02) and Zhuhai (广东03), respectively. Red-on-black plate-bearing vehicles are only allowed to drive within said cities. White-on-black vehicles are permitted to drive within Guangdong province, while if the vehicles are issued with green or violet plates according to their types, they have no area limitations.
  Public security vehicles (e.g. police) are issued with single-line plates with the format GARR-####, where the RR is the regional code, and the following numbers are the serial number, with the "GA" (Abbreviation for 公安, Gong An, "Public security") in red.
  The regional codes are as follows:
  Note: Chongqing was separated from Sichuan as a directly-administered city in 1997, and the 1986-series standard was abolished in 1997 as well, therefore Public security vehicles in Chongqing bear the Sichuan code of GA51, instead of the later-introduced GA50.
  1986-series plates are allowed to have the first number in the serial replaced by a letter with a special meaning, such as T for "Taxi", Z for "自备车" (Zi bei che, "self-reserved vehicle"), G for "个体户“ (Ge ti hu, "entrepreneur").
caption: Layout and examples of 1986-series plates.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)"}