冀A 12345

冀 plates: Hebei, and what the letters mean

Facts checked

A plate beginning 冀 was registered in Hebei, a province. The character is Jì, said roughly “jee”. 冀 is short for 冀州 Jìzhōu, one of the Nine Provinces into which legend has Yu the Great dividing the country; Jizhou covered roughly what is now Hebei. The province's own name means 'north of the [Yellow] River'.

The letter after it is the office that issued the plate. 冀A belongs to Shijiazhuang, and 19 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 冀 Jì “jee”
PlaceHebei
Kindprovince
CapitalShijiazhuang
City letters20
Why this character冀 is short for 冀州 Jìzhōu, one of the Nine Provinces into which legend has Yu the Great dividing the country; Jizhou covered roughly what is now Hebei. The province's own name means 'north of the [Yellow] River'.

The city letters

Issuing offices in Hebei.
Prefix Letter City Note
冀A A Shijiazhuang 冀AZ is the taxi block.
冀B B Tangshan 冀BT is the taxi block.
冀C C Qinhuangdao
冀D D Handan
冀E E Xingtai
冀F F Baoding
冀G G Zhangjiakou
冀H H Chengde
冀J J Cangzhou
冀K K Handan Prefecture Allocated but never actually issued: the prefecture was merged into Handan city in 1993, before the 1992-series changeover reached it.
冀L L Xingtai Prefecture Allocated but never actually issued; merged into Xingtai city in 1993.
冀M M Shijiazhuang Prefecture Allocated but never actually issued; merged into Shijiazhuang city in 1993.
冀N N Baoding Prefecture Issued only briefly in 1994; the prefecture merged into Baoding city in December of that year and the series lapsed.
冀O O Hebei 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.
冀P P Zhangjiakou Prefecture Allocated but never actually issued; merged into Zhangjiakou city in 1993.
冀Q Q Chengde Prefecture Allocated but never actually issued; merged into Chengde city in 1993.
冀R R Langfang
冀S S Cangzhou Prefecture Allocated but never actually issued; merged into Cangzhou city in 1993.
冀T T Hengshui
冀X X Xiong'an New Area The newest provincial series, launched in 2023 for the new area south of Beijing. 冀X·DZ0000–DZ9999 are battery-electric taxis and FZ0000–FZ9999 other new-energy taxis.

Hebei plates: questions people ask

What does 冀 mean on a Chinese licence plate?
冀 (Jì, "jee") is the abbreviation for Hebei. 冀 is short for 冀州 Jìzhōu, one of the Nine Provinces into which legend has Yu the Great dividing the country; Jizhou covered roughly what is now Hebei. The province's own name means 'north of the [Yellow] River'.
Which city is 冀A?
Shijiazhuang. 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 Hebei use?
20 are recorded here, A to X. A retired or reassigned letter keeps its note in the table.

Related

Sources for Hebei

  1. 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.
  2. 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.