The former chief of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, Song Jianguo, recently stood trial for corruption, accused of taking advantage of his position by helping companies and individuals obtain license plates with the in-demand prefix of "Jing A." He is also accused of accepting bribes worth more than 23 million yuan ($3.7 million) between 2004 and 2014, partly to help people get license plates, which are in high demand and distributed by a lottery system to help reduce the number of cars on Beijing's congested roads.
The case was heard in the No.1 Intermediate People's Court in Beijing recently, the Xinhua News Agency reported. He was first detained in August 2014.
Vehicle license plates have been difficult to get since the government imposed quotas on registrations in 2011. Buying a license plate from someone who obtained theirs legitimately costs around 120,000 yuan in market. Getting one through backdoor channels costs even more, while prestigious plates such as "Jing A" being the most expensive of all, because of the meaning it implies.
When Song's case came into light, the "Jing A" license plates attracted public attention, with many questioning what made the license plates so attractive that people would risk bribing officials to obtain one.
Vanity and authority
In Beijing, the "Jing A" (Jing represents Beijing) license plates are generally considered as privileged because they were originally owned by government and public institutions, the Southern Weekly newspaper reported.
This dates back to the 1990s when private cars were rare. "Jing A" plates were the first batch and were mainly issued to government bodies. In other words, "Jing A" indicated the vehicle belong to a government official.
According to the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, about 610,000 vehicles were registered with "Jing A," "Jing B" and "Jing C" plates during that period.
However, the license plates issued in the 1990s needed to be renewed. New requests for Jing A plates were approved by the traffic management bureau.
"Jing A" plates enjoy no official privilege on the road. Many affluent residents pursue them out of vanity.
When the central government launched an anti-corruption campaign in 2013, several officials in the traffic management bureau were arrested for taking bribes in order to help others obtain the sought-after "Jing A" license plates.
Song, for example, is accused of helping a man named Li Guoniang to obtain dozens of "Jing A" and "Jing A8" plates between 2007 and 2011.
Song Haiyan, the former deputy head of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau's vehicle management division, was convicted of receiving 130,000 yuan and gift certificates to help others to obtain car licenses. Song Jianguo's driver, Yang Changming, was also accused of receiving bribes of about 430,000 yuan between 2009 and 2012.
According to Southern Weekly, different people in the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau had the right to approve different types of "Jing A" plates. The head of the bureau had the right to approve "Jing A8" plates, while the deputy head could approve "Jing A" plates.
Li Changzheng, the head of Vehicle Administration of the Traffic Management Bureau, testified he could approve "Jing A" plates that used English letters, as apposed to more prestigious original plates with Arabic numbers.
"Jing A" passé
Because the "Jing A" license plates are in demand, some people are selling their license plates for a high price. A "Jing A" plate followed by English letters could be sold for up to 160,000 yuan. An ordinary "Jing A" plate could be sold for up to 300,000 yuan, while a "Jing A8" plate could be sold for up to 800,000 yuan.
According to Time Weekly, the license plate "Jing A8" were first chosen by a senior official during the 1990s for private use. Since then, plates beginning with "Jing A8" have been reserved for central authorities.
Although many are still obsessed with the "Jing A" plate, many officials have stopped using them since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, during which the government ordered officials to cut spending on expenditures, including the use of official vehicles.
A secretary of a provincial official told a reporter that many ministerial officials have changed their plates from "Jing A8" to ordinary plates.
A retired ministerial official also said most senior officials' license plates now begin with "Jing O." Two commissioner-generals confirmed that they both owned "Jing O" plates.
"A senior official of my unit changed his license plate because he feared that the 'Jing A' license plate would get him into trouble," a section level cadre said.
Some officials even switched to license plates that begin with "Jing K" and "Jing Q," an official at the State Council said.
As a result, it is understood that "Jing A" license plates no longer necessarily belong to officials, while official vehicles' license plates have become more diverse. If a vehicle with "Jing A" plate passes by, the owner may not be a government official.
Waiting for a plate
Vehicle license plates in China underwent a change in 1994. Previously, the plates consisted of a provincial name, a district code and five numerical digits, in two lines. After the change, plates were one line, consisting of a one-character provincial abbreviation, a letter indicating the city of the province and five digits. In Beijing, "Jing B" represents taxis and "Jing G" represents suburban vehicles. There are no "Jing D" and "Jing I" plates because the letters are easily confused with other characters.
Vehicle license plates registration was further regulated in 2011, as Beijing's number of vehicles soared. The government launched a license plate lottery system in January 2011 to curb Beijing's worsening traffic jams.
Currently, around 240,000 license plates are allocated every year. According to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport in 2013, 1.55 million people have applied for license plates and are waiting to receive one.
After a government car reforms were implemented in July 2014, officials can now either use their own private cars for government use and get plates, or purchase vehicles themselves and queue up for a new license plate.
"I have been queuing for four years and still have not received one," an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Southern Weekly.
