苏A 12345
苏 plates: Jiangsu, and what the letters mean
Facts checked
A plate beginning 苏 was registered in Jiangsu, a province. The character is Sū, said roughly “soo”. 苏 comes from 苏州 Sūzhōu. The province's name is a portmanteau of 江宁 Jiāngníng (old Nanjing) and Suzhou, the two prefectures the Qing joined to make it.
The letter after it is the office that issued the plate. 苏A belongs to Nanjing, 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 | 苏 “soo” |
|---|---|
| Place | Jiangsu |
| Kind | province |
| Capital | Nanjing |
| City letters | 15 |
| Why this character | 苏 comes from 苏州 Sūzhōu. The province's name is a portmanteau of 江宁 Jiāngníng (old Nanjing) and Suzhou, the two prefectures the Qing joined to make it. |
The city letters
- 苏A Nanjing
- 苏B Wuxi
- 苏C Xuzhou
- 苏D Changzhou
- 苏E Suzhou
- 苏F Nantong
- 苏G Lianyungang
- 苏H Huai'an
- 苏J Yancheng
- 苏K Yangzhou
- 苏L Zhenjiang
- 苏M Taizhou
- 苏N Suqian
- 苏O Jiangsu provincial agencies and foreign-invested vehicles
- 苏U Suzhou
| Prefix | Letter | City | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 苏A | A | Nanjing | |
| 苏B | B | Wuxi | |
| 苏C | C | Xuzhou | |
| 苏D | D | Changzhou | |
| 苏E | E | Suzhou | |
| 苏F | F | Nantong | |
| 苏G | G | Lianyungang | |
| 苏H | H | Huai'an | |
| 苏J | J | Yancheng | |
| 苏K | K | Yangzhou | |
| 苏L | L | Zhenjiang | |
| 苏M | M | Taizhou | |
| 苏N | N | Suqian | |
| 苏O | O | Jiangsu 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. |
| 苏U | U | Suzhou | Supplementary series for Suzhou, opened 5 January 2019: the same city runs two letters because one letter's combinations ran short. Suzhou was the first city in Jiangsu to run two letters. |
Jiangsu plates: questions people ask
- What does 苏 mean on a Chinese licence plate?
- 苏 (Sū, "soo") is the abbreviation for Jiangsu. 苏 comes from 苏州 Sūzhōu. The province's name is a portmanteau of 江宁 Jiāngníng (old Nanjing) and Suzhou, the two prefectures the Qing joined to make it.
- Which city is 苏A?
- Nanjing. 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 Jiangsu use?
- 15 are recorded here, A to U. A retired or reassigned letter keeps its note in the table.
Related
Sources for Jiangsu
- 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.