湘A 12345
湘 plates: Hunan, and what the letters mean
Facts checked
A plate beginning 湘 was registered in Hunan, a province. The character is Xiāng, said roughly “shyahng”. 湘 is taken from the Xiang River (湘江), which drains most of the province into Dongting Lake. Hunan means 'south of the lake'.
The letter after it is the office that issued the plate. 湘A belongs to Changsha, and 15 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 | 湘 “shyahng” |
|---|---|
| Place | Hunan |
| Kind | province |
| Capital | Changsha |
| City letters | 16 |
| Why this character | 湘 is taken from the Xiang River (湘江), which drains most of the province into Dongting Lake. Hunan means 'south of the lake'. |
The city letters
- 湘A Changsha
- 湘B Zhuzhou
- 湘C Xiangtan
- 湘D Hengyang
- 湘E Shaoyang
- 湘F Yueyang
- 湘G Zhangjiajie
- 湘H Yiyang
- 湘J Changde
- 湘K Loudi
- 湘L Chenzhou
- 湘M Yongzhou
- 湘N Huaihua
- 湘O Hunan official and police vehicles
- 湘S Hunan provincial agencies
- 湘U Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture
| Prefix | Letter | City | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 湘A | A | Changsha | On older Changsha plates the first digit marked a county — 6 Changsha County, 7 Wangcheng, 8 Liuyang, 9 Ningxiang. 湘A followed by T (blue plate) or DX (green plate) marks a taxi. |
| 湘B | B | Zhuzhou | Older first digits: 5 Zhuzhou County, 6 Liling, 7 You County, 8 Chaling, 9 Yanling. |
| 湘C | C | Xiangtan | |
| 湘D | D | Hengyang | Older first digits: 2 Hengnan, 3 Hengdong, 4 Hengshan, 5 Hengyang County, 6 Qidong, 7 Changning, 8 Leiyang. |
| 湘E | E | Shaoyang | |
| 湘F | F | Yueyang | Older first digits: 4 Yueyang County, 5 Pingjiang, 6 Huarong, 7 Xiangyin, 8 Miluo, 9 Linxiang. |
| 湘G | G | Zhangjiajie | |
| 湘H | H | Yiyang | Older first digits: 5 Taojiang, 6 Anhua, 7 Yuanjiang, 8 Nan County. |
| 湘J | J | Changde | Older first digits: 3 Hanshou, 4 Taoyuan, 5 Linli, 6 Shimen, 7 Li County, 8 Jinshi, 9 Anxiang. |
| 湘K | K | Loudi | Older first digits: 3 Lianyuan, 4 Shuangfeng, 5 Lengshuijiang, 6 Xinhua. |
| 湘L | L | Chenzhou | |
| 湘M | M | Yongzhou | Older first digits ran 2 Qiyang through 9 Dong'an. |
| 湘N | N | Huaihua | |
| 湘O | O | Hunan official and police vehicles | Abolished: the provincial public security department withdrew both the 湘O police block and the 湘OR provincial-agency block. |
| 湘S | S | Hunan provincial agencies | unconfirmed status: the Chinese article still lists 湘S as the provincial-agency series, while English Wikipedia records it as phased out in 2014. |
| 湘U | U | Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture |
Hunan plates: questions people ask
- What does 湘 mean on a Chinese licence plate?
- 湘 (Xiāng, "shyahng") is the abbreviation for Hunan. 湘 is taken from the Xiang River (湘江), which drains most of the province into Dongting Lake. Hunan means 'south of the lake'.
- Which city is 湘A?
- Changsha. 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 Hunan use?
- 16 are recorded here, A to U. A retired or reassigned letter keeps its note in the table.
Related
Sources for Hunan
- 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.