Personalized Number Plates for Cars Unveiled in Beijing

Home>>Life

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, August 13, 2002

Personalized Number Plates for Cars Unveiled in Beijing

Car owners in Tianjin, Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province and Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province swarmed the traffic administration bureaux Monday to register personal number plates for their vehicles. The pilot project lasts from Monday to December 31.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Aug.12, 2002 marked the first day in which the new-styled car license number made its debut in Beijing.

Though the media offered a goodwill hint a week ago that there were enough car license numbers for choice what's unexpected for the license-plate releasing department is that a long queue appeared at 05:00 pm the day before yesterday. And within 5 hours all versions of funny plate numbers came out, setting people acclaim as marvelous.

The most creative number is "USA-911". Though the reporter failed to set his eyes on the "precious number" of the car owner he is sure to catch a lot of attention when this imported car is out driving on the road.

When a man of around 40 years old learned that his beloved number "911" had already gone to somebody else he felt downcast, saying that he never expected that other people would do likewise as he would like to. When asked why he would like to choose that disastrous number he said that it's eye-catching. What a wonder to make a lot of people turn round and have a look at it.

"SEX-001" is another number that is at once a bold move and a headache number. Nevertheless, the administration still allowed the car owner to have it. Persons concerned say so long as it is within certain limits of tolerance the citizen's choice will be respected.

The other funny numbers that followed are "FBI-001" and "UFO-001" and so on. Other name, such as WTO has become another fashion that people like to choose.

By way of computer checkup or on-the-spot observation many new-styled car numbers that came into appearance the first day have been imbued with elements nowadays on vogue in the world and moreover, they are richly hued with individualities. Some plate numbers full of marvelous creativeness will hit a record in inducing the passersby to turn round and have a look at them.

The plate number "123-456" that features individuality and favored by many car owners is the first successful number coming to light in the city. Though numbers and letters carry some significance what the car-owners select today, except the numbers making people to laugh at them are the other types as memorable, propitious and fashionable.

The memorable and propitious numbers played a major role on the very day. For example, the combination of the shortened form of one's name with the birthday is the number easy to be remembered.

However, many like to choose propitious number such as "8", "6", "9" to make an auspicious combination as "168", "998" and "818". These are the most favored numbers making frequent appearances today.

In the city of Beijing, a city in which people favor individuality to a great extent some well-known network signs have also become the pets of car owners. In a short span as 5 hours the numbers with "COM" and "NET" are all gone. A youngster of around 20 tried time and again before the number-selection system for a combination of 163, 169, 263 with COM or NET but he failed unhappily for all these numbers had already gone to others.

An expert expressed when interviewed with the reporter, saying that every car owner has his or her own wishes or way of thinking and so it's not necessary for people to dwell on certain auspicious number as "6" or "8". In a multielement era, people have to use polybasic car numbers, making the creative number of individuality to create for the owner a jubilant and imaginative space of life.

Four cities issue personal number plates for cars

Car owners in Beijing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Tianjin swarmed the traffic administration bureaux Monday to register personal number plates for their vehicles, according to a report by China Daily Tuesday.

The pilot project is also running in Tianjin, Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province and Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province from yesterday to December 31, according to the Bureau of Traffic Administration under the Ministry of Public Security.

In Shenzhen, more than 7,000 people who have bought cars will register new licence plates during the pilot project period, Xinhua reported.

Under the new system, vehicle owners can get plates composed of three English letters and three Arabic numbers or six Arabic numbers in two groups.

The English letter combination of CHN, the abbreviation for China, will not be allowed, traffic administration bureaux officials said.

Some wonder whether people will ask for the acronyms of famous companies such as IBM computers. Others said people should choose plates prudently so as to avoid misunderstanding.

By People's Daily Online

Questions?Comments? Click here

Beijing's Private Autos Top One Million

Beijing Not Worried by Increasing Number of Cars

China's High-tech Development Geared to Marketable Industries ( 46 Messages)

Chinese GRE Test Takers Shocked by US ETS Decision ( 24 Messages)

Bush Looks Forward to Chinese President Jiang's Visit: Spokesman ( 22 Messages)

US Should Change Two-sided Policy: Opinion ( 27 Messages)

Shanghai Financial Center Aiming High ( 10 Messages)