贵A 12345
贵 plates: Guizhou, and what the letters mean
Facts checked
A plate beginning 贵 was registered in Guizhou, a province. The character is Guì, said roughly “gway”. 贵 is simply the first character of the province's name, which means 'the noble region'. Its literary abbreviation is 黔 Qián, from the Qin and Han commandery of Qianzhong.
The letter after it is the office that issued the plate. 贵A belongs to Guiyang, and 9 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 | 贵 “gway” |
|---|---|
| Place | Guizhou |
| Kind | province |
| Capital | Guiyang |
| City letters | 10 |
| Why this character | 贵 is simply the first character of the province's name, which means 'the noble region'. Its literary abbreviation is 黔 Qián, from the Qin and Han commandery of Qianzhong. |
The city letters
- 贵A Guiyang
- 贵B Liupanshui
- 贵C Zunyi
- 贵D Tongren
- 贵E Qianxinan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture
- 贵F Bijie
- 贵G Anshun
- 贵H Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture
- 贵J Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture
- 贵O Guizhou provincial agencies and foreign-invested vehicles
| Prefix | Letter | City | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 贵A | A | Guiyang | 贵AU is the block for city buses and taxis. |
| 贵B | B | Liupanshui | |
| 贵C | C | Zunyi | |
| 贵D | D | Tongren | |
| 贵E | E | Qianxinan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture | |
| 贵F | F | Bijie | |
| 贵G | G | Anshun | |
| 贵H | H | Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture | |
| 贵J | J | Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture | |
| 贵O | O | Guizhou 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. |
Guizhou plates: questions people ask
- What does 贵 mean on a Chinese licence plate?
- 贵 (Guì, "gway") is the abbreviation for Guizhou. 贵 is simply the first character of the province's name, which means 'the noble region'. Its literary abbreviation is 黔 Qián, from the Qin and Han commandery of Qianzhong.
- Which city is 贵A?
- Guiyang. 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 Guizhou use?
- 10 are recorded here, A to O. A retired or reassigned letter keeps its note in the table.
Related
Sources for Guizhou
- 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.