Beijing introduced the lottery system in 2011 to limit the number of cars in the city and ease congestion. The chances of winning the bimonthly license plate lottery are becoming increasingly slim, ...

The government would then issue plates to a select few as part of a bi-monthly drawing. By 2018, the number of permitted annual vehicle registrations for cars fell from 240,000 to just 100,000.

Several thousand will be issued across the city on Monday. Beijing introduced the "pick-your-own" license plates for the first time in 2002. The system lasted for only 10 days.

Beijing's clampdown on new car registrations is creating a scramble for licence plates and fuelling a boom on the black market where prices have hit as high as $33,000 (£20,259), almost double ...

Shanghai, the country's financial hub, uses an auction to limit the number of license plates and the price of a plate keeps hitting new highs. They currently go for more than 60,000 yuan ($9,460).