The lottery process lasted for only 20 minutes. A total of 17,600 applicants – or about 10% from a total of 210 thousand -- were awarded plates at the lottery. Applicants can check the results on-line 25 minutes after the lottery or by phone one hour later. The lottery will be held once a month in the capital. Those who were not drawn will be automatically included in the following month's draw.

Last year, Beijing saw a record 800,000 new cars take to the already overcrowded streets, bringing the number of vehicles in the capital to more than 4.7 million. A record 140 traffic jams were monitored on a single evening in September last year, turning large parts of the city into giant parking lots.

The new policy will limit issuance of new license plates to one third of the number of 2010. Many people believe, to some extent, the measures will ease the capital city’s traffic jams, but improving public transport and the traffic system is still the main solution to cope with the congestion.