Beijing Readopts Pick-up-your-own Personal License Plates  
 
Tens of millions of car owners in big Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou can personalize their license plates starting from Monday.

Car owners have two ways of choosing their license plate numbers. One option is to combine four numbers and a letter selected at random. The other option is to choose one license plate out of the ten offered numbers by the traffic authority.

Ding Zhaolin, an expert in public management in Tsinghua University, says the pick-up-your-own license plate system is a showpiece of the public service-oriented government.

"The new number plate system is a very good measure. It shows that the government has transformed to a public service-oriented one. Chinese people prefer to choose plates with lucky numbers. These kinds of plates are rare, and people used to doubt that these plates were distributed unfairly. Now the number selection process is totally open to the public. It's an example of the justness of the government's public service."

The Beijing traffic bureau tried the DIY plate system in 2002. But the authority ended it quickly when obscene abbreviations appeared on some plates. Ding Zhaolin says this time, the system has been improved.

"The new system is quite different from the last one. This time car owners can choose only one letter, so embarrassing license plates will not appear again."

China has witnessed a fast increasing number of private cars, with Beijing alone has about 3 million vehicles hitting the road every day.