In late August 2002 new 2002 standard plates had their issuance temporarily interrupted , officially for technical reasons , but actually because some number/alphabetical combinations of a controversial nature in Mainland China were utilised . One of the biggest controversies was when a vehicle with plate number USA-911 was spotted in Beijing , causing an uproar as it was taken to be a reference to the September 11 attacks , and as such was criticized as being disrespectful to Americans . Equal uproars were created with such plates as PRC-001 , and trademark violations were rife ; the plate number IBM-001 and was seen . The WTO acronym was also spotted in the plates . In a society that is still rather conservative in this topic , the plate SEX-001 was the source of yet another controversy . The number 250 , an insult in spoken Chinese , was also spotted in some plates
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Vehicle registration plates of China