[Beijing Diary] Reaching for the Stars? Getting a Beijing Car License Plate

BYD electric car (Photo by Yonhap News)

Beijing, China, is a uniquely peculiar city in many ways. Its culture, which seems capitalist yet socialist, combined with its distinctive high-density population, creates extraordinary scenes. It is always surprising to hear, even though people already know, that even with money, you cannot freely buy a house or a car.

Among these, the system related to vehicles is particularly strict compared to other first-tier cities. Beijing is the only city in China that applies purchase restrictions on both new energy vehicles (electric cars, hybrids) and internal combustion engine vehicles. Since 2011, Beijing has implemented a purchase restriction policy where vehicle license plates are allocated through a lottery system to address traffic congestion and air pollution problems. Although the rationale is to prevent excessive speculation, urban overcrowding, and environmental pollution, this somewhat clumsy and seemingly unreasonable system somehow manages to function, which is quite interesting.

The first general vehicle lottery of this year was held on the 26th, where 9,600 passenger car license plates (including regular passenger cars and mini-vans with up to 9 seats) were drawn. A total of 624,000 family applicants and 2.59 million individual applicants participated. Roughly calculated, the competition rate exceeds 330:1. This license plate lottery is held six times a year.

When Beijing first introduced purchase restrictions, about 240,000 new license plates were issued annually. However, due to the continuous increase in operating vehicles and other factors, the number decreased to 150,000 in 2014 and 100,000 in 2018. For those wanting to buy a car, obtaining a license plate has become as difficult as catching a star in the sky.

However, recently there are signs of easing these restrictions. Guangzhou, one of the first-tier cities, revised related administrative measures in May to allow new energy vehicles to receive license plates immediately. This month, Shenzhen released 10,000 passenger car license plates all at once.

On the 24th, five departments including the National Development and Reform Commission jointly announced the "Measures for New Consumption Formation and Growth," emphasizing once again the promotion of automobile consumption. They recommended that cities with purchase restrictions ease vehicle purchase limits and increase the number of license plates released to the market. The next day, on the 25th, Beijing’s official social media account shared this information, attracting the attention of Beijing citizens. This endorsement can be interpreted as a signal for the relaxation of license plate regulations.

As a side note, unlike the strict license plate distribution criteria, Beijing’s traffic order and emergency response measures are extremely lax. Recently, an acquaintance experienced a rear-end collision caused 100% by the following car’s fault (failure to keep watch ahead), and the police were called to the scene. The police inspected the rear bumper of the damaged vehicle, lightly tapped the driver’s and passenger’s seat headrests with their hands, and then left saying, "The car is sturdy, so no one must be hurt." The police said they would review the situation and contact if necessary, but months have passed without any news. This mix of strictness and leniency crossing over wildly makes Beijing a truly unique and fascinating city.