甘A 12345
甘 plates: Gansu, and what the letters mean
Facts checked
A plate beginning 甘 was registered in Gansu, a province. The character is Gān, said roughly “gahn”. 甘 comes from 甘州 Gānzhōu, today's Zhangye; the province's name joins Ganzhou and 肃州 Sùzhōu, today's Jiuquan — the two Hexi Corridor garrisons. Its literary abbreviation is 陇 Lǒng, from the Long Mountains.
The letter after it is the office that issued the plate. 甘A belongs to Lanzhou, and 14 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 | 甘 “gahn” |
|---|---|
| Place | Gansu |
| Kind | province |
| Capital | Lanzhou |
| City letters | 15 |
| Why this character | 甘 comes from 甘州 Gānzhōu, today's Zhangye; the province's name joins Ganzhou and 肃州 Sùzhōu, today's Jiuquan — the two Hexi Corridor garrisons. Its literary abbreviation is 陇 Lǒng, from the Long Mountains. |
The city letters
- 甘A Lanzhou
- 甘B Jiayuguan
- 甘C Jinchang
- 甘D Baiyin
- 甘E Tianshui
- 甘F Jiuquan
- 甘G Zhangye
- 甘H Wuwei
- 甘J Dingxi
- 甘K Longnan
- 甘L Pingliang
- 甘M Qingyang
- 甘N Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture
- 甘O Gansu public security
- 甘P Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
| Prefix | Letter | City | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 甘A | A | Lanzhou | 甘A·8A000–8B999 are taxis, 8C000–8D999 are shared between taxis and ride-hailing cars, 8F000–8H999 are ride-hailing only, and 8X000–8Y999 are Lanzhou New Area taxis. |
| 甘B | B | Jiayuguan | |
| 甘C | C | Jinchang | |
| 甘D | D | Baiyin | |
| 甘E | E | Tianshui | |
| 甘F | F | Jiuquan | |
| 甘G | G | Zhangye | |
| 甘H | H | Wuwei | |
| 甘J | J | Dingxi | |
| 甘K | K | Longnan | |
| 甘L | L | Pingliang | |
| 甘M | M | Qingyang | |
| 甘N | N | Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture | |
| 甘O | O | Gansu public security | Withdrawn on 27 September 2013: from 1 October that year the roughly 6,400 甘O plates were converted to ordinary civilian plates on a voluntary, no-new-issues basis, and police cars that qualified were repainted and given proper 警 plates. |
| 甘P | P | Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture |
Gansu plates: questions people ask
- What does 甘 mean on a Chinese licence plate?
- 甘 (Gān, "gahn") is the abbreviation for Gansu. 甘 comes from 甘州 Gānzhōu, today's Zhangye; the province's name joins Ganzhou and 肃州 Sùzhōu, today's Jiuquan — the two Hexi Corridor garrisons. Its literary abbreviation is 陇 Lǒng, from the Long Mountains.
- Which city is 甘A?
- Lanzhou. 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 Gansu use?
- 15 are recorded here, A to P. A retired or reassigned letter keeps its note in the table.
Related
Sources for Gansu
- 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.