Wang Yong writes in Caixin:
Beijinger Wang Xiuxia should be in the Guinness World Records book for holding 1,000 license plate numbers, equivalent to 5 percent of new Beijing numbers issued monthly. She rented them out for profit. The case, exposed in late August, involves a number of legal and public policy questions worth analyzing.
Wang's rental business had two models of operation. Before a purchase limit was enacted by the Beijing city government in 2011, she rented identity cards to people from outside Beijing so they could register license plates. After the purchase limit came into effect – a limit that requires locals to enter a lottery system to get a plate – she rented out plates under her own name.
Her first method constitutes deception to obtain an administrative license, for which her motor vehicle registration should be revoked according to the law. Directly renting license plates is also illegal. Because plates are administrative licenses by nature rather than purely private property, they cannot be borrowed or leased. In addition, Wang's rental of license plates constitutes business behavior and should be deemed an illegal business operation.
