渝A 12345
渝 plates: Chongqing, and what the letters mean
Facts checked
A plate beginning 渝 was registered in Chongqing, a municipality directly under the central government. The character is Yú, said roughly “yoo (lips rounded, like French 'u')”. 渝 is taken from 渝水, an old name for the Jialing River; the city was 渝州 Yúzhōu under the Sui and Tang. 重庆 Chóngqìng, 'double celebration', dates from 1189.
The letter after it is the office that issued the plate. 渝A belongs to Chongqing, and 8 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 | 渝 “yoo (lips rounded, like French 'u')” |
|---|---|
| Place | Chongqing |
| Kind | municipality directly under the central government |
| Capital | Chongqing |
| City letters | 9 |
| Why this character | 渝 is taken from 渝水, an old name for the Jialing River; the city was 渝州 Yúzhōu under the Sui and Tang. 重庆 Chóngqìng, 'double celebration', dates from 1189. |
The city letters
- 渝A Chongqing
- 渝B Chongqing
- 渝C Chongqing
- 渝D Chongqing
- 渝F Chongqing
- 渝G Chongqing
- 渝H Chongqing
- 渝N Chongqing — government and state-enterprise vehicles
- 渝O Chongqing public security
| Prefix | Letter | City | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 渝A | A | Chongqing | Before 18 May 2017 渝A covered Yuzhong, Jiulongpo, Shapingba, Dadukou and Jiangbei districts, and taxis carried a T after the letter (渝AT1234). Since that date buyers anywhere in the municipality may pick any letter from A to H online. |
| 渝B | B | Chongqing | Formerly Nan'an, Beibei, Yubei, Banan, Changshou and Qijiang. Taxis carried a T after the letter. |
| 渝C | C | Chongqing | Formerly Yongchuan, Hechuan and the county-level divisions of the old Yongchuan Prefecture. |
| 渝D | D | Chongqing | Opened on 27 November 2015 as a supplementary series for the central districts covered by A, B and C. |
| 渝F | F | Chongqing | Formerly Wanzhou and the divisions of the old prefecture-level Wanxian city. |
| 渝G | G | Chongqing | Formerly Fuling and the divisions of the old prefecture-level Fuling city. |
| 渝H | H | Chongqing | Formerly Qianjiang and the divisions of the old Qianjiang Prefecture. |
| 渝N | N | Chongqing — government and state-enterprise vehicles | |
| 渝O | O | Chongqing public security | Retired police series. |
Chongqing plates: questions people ask
- What does 渝 mean on a Chinese licence plate?
- 渝 (Yú, "yoo (lips rounded, like French 'u')") is the abbreviation for Chongqing. 渝 is taken from 渝水, an old name for the Jialing River; the city was 渝州 Yúzhōu under the Sui and Tang. 重庆 Chóngqìng, 'double celebration', dates from 1189.
- Which city is 渝A?
- Chongqing. 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 Chongqing use?
- 9 are recorded here, A to O. A retired or reassigned letter keeps its note in the table.
Related
Sources for Chongqing
- 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.