Hot debate and speculation spread among citizens of four major
Chinese cities when the city's powers that be announced they were
shutting down a personalized license plate pilot project after only
10 days.
Due to "technical problems," the new system, which allows
automobile owners to register personal number (and letter) plates
for their vehicles, was suspended, said a notice issued by the
Beijing Traffic Administration Bureau on Wednesday. The notice did
not mention a date of resumption for the pilot project, which was
supposed to last four months.
Similar notices were posted by traffic administration bureaux in
Tianjin, Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province and Shenzhen in
South China's Guangzhou Province.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, the cities will
resume using the 1992 method of issuing license numbers by random
computer generation.
Although the traffic authorities did not give a clear explanation
as to why the trial came to a sudden halt, some suspect that the
creative use of license numbers and the chaos it could cause might
be part of the reason.
In
response to this, a ministry official told China Daily yesterday
that the public and the media should keep calm instead of making a
fuss; the traffic administration departments will give a further
explanation soon.
Beginning August 12, vehicle owners in the four cities got a good
opportunity to show their creativity with personalized license
plates.
In
Beijing, more than 10,000 car owners chose their own combinations
of letters and numbers over the past 10 days, reported the Beijing
Evening News.
Since car owners were free to choose any sequence or combination of
letters and numbers (except CHN), many people were reported
choosing plates like BTV-001, SEX-001, WTO-001 and so on.
The effects of the selection of such plates under the new system on
traffic administration authorities and on vehicle owners are
uncertain.
According to a recent Internet survey, to which 6,391 people
responded, 55 percent welcomed the license-plate reform, regarding
it an exciting way for vehicle-owners to show their personalities;
25 percent thought it meaningless and another 20 percent said they
are hoping for further reforms regarding number plates.
On
the plus side, the new reform may have helped spur auto sales. A
total of 1,300 cars were sold last week, 200 more than the usual
figure, a salesman with the Asian Games Village Automobile Exchange
said via telephone. The market is the largest one in Beijing.
Inquired if the new move could affect the auto sales, the salesman
said he believed that some fluctuations may appear, but the market
will prosper in the long run.
The public also showed an understanding of concerns about
personalized plates.
"I
believe the owner of a vehicle who registered SEX-001 would regret
his choice sooner or later," wrote a person on the Web.
Others said the public should not be nervous about chaos because
only a few people would choose "weird" or "bad" number plates and
would not influence the new system as whole.
(China
Daily August 23, 2002)