皖A 12345
皖 plates: Anhui, and what the letters mean
Facts checked
A plate beginning 皖 was registered in Anhui, a province. The character is Wǎn, said roughly “wahn”. 皖 was the name of an ancient state and of Mount Wan (皖山, today's Tianzhu Shan) near Anqing. The province's name joins 安庆 Ānqìng and 徽州 Huīzhōu.
The letter after it is the office that issued the plate. 皖A belongs to Hefei, and 17 further letters are recorded below.
The colour of the plate is a separate fact from the characters: it says what kind of vehicle carries it, and the characters say nothing about it. The colour guide sets out what each of the 7 colours licenses.
Key facts
| Plate character | 皖 “wahn” |
|---|---|
| Place | Anhui |
| Kind | province |
| Capital | Hefei |
| City letters | 18 |
| Why this character | 皖 was the name of an ancient state and of Mount Wan (皖山, today's Tianzhu Shan) near Anqing. The province's name joins 安庆 Ānqìng and 徽州 Huīzhōu. |
The city letters
- 皖A Hefei
- 皖B Wuhu
- 皖C Bengbu
- 皖D Huainan
- 皖E Ma'anshan
- 皖F Huaibei
- 皖G Tongling
- 皖H Anqing
- 皖J Huangshan
- 皖K Fuyang
- 皖L Suzhou (Anhui)
- 皖M Chuzhou
- 皖N Lu'an
- 皖O Anhui provincial agencies and foreign-invested vehicles
- 皖P Xuancheng
- 皖Q Chaohu
- 皖R Chizhou
- 皖S Bozhou
| Prefix | Letter | City | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 皖A | A | Hefei | |
| 皖B | B | Wuhu | |
| 皖C | C | Bengbu | |
| 皖D | D | Huainan | |
| 皖E | E | Ma'anshan | |
| 皖F | F | Huaibei | |
| 皖G | G | Tongling | |
| 皖H | H | Anqing | |
| 皖J | J | Huangshan | |
| 皖K | K | Fuyang | |
| 皖L | L | Suzhou (Anhui) | Not to be confused with Suzhou in Jiangsu (苏E/苏U); the two cities are written with different characters — 宿州 here, 苏州 there. |
| 皖M | M | Chuzhou | |
| 皖N | N | Lu'an | |
| 皖O | O | Anhui provincial agencies and foreign-invested vehicles | Retired. Provinces once ran an O series as a special civilian-numbered block for public-security and government vehicles; the privileges attached to it drew steady public criticism and most provinces withdrew it between 2003 and 2019. |
| 皖P | P | Xuancheng | |
| 皖Q | Q | Chaohu | Discontinued in 2011, when the prefecture-level city of Chaohu was broken up between Hefei, Wuhu and Ma'anshan. |
| 皖R | R | Chizhou | |
| 皖S | S | Bozhou |
Anhui plates: questions people ask
- What does 皖 mean on a Chinese licence plate?
- 皖 (Wǎn, "wahn") is the abbreviation for Anhui. 皖 was the name of an ancient state and of Mount Wan (皖山, today's Tianzhu Shan) near Anqing. The province's name joins 安庆 Ānqìng and 徽州 Huīzhōu.
- Which city is 皖A?
- Hefei. The letter A goes to the seat of government in almost every province, and the remaining letters were assigned to the other issuing offices.
- How many plate letters does Anhui use?
- 18 are recorded here, A to S. A retired or reassigned letter keeps its note in the table.
Related
Sources for Anhui
- Wikipedia (Chinese), 中华人民共和国民用机动车号牌 (Civil motor-vehicle registration plates of the People's Republic of China). Read . Carries the complete province-by-province table of issuing-office letters, with the retired and renumbered series footnoted to Chinese news and public-security sources. Used as a finding aid; wording here is our own.
- Wikipedia, Vehicle registration plates of China. Read . English list of prefixes; the article flags its own list as incomplete, so it is used here to cross-check the Chinese table rather than as the primary record.