Beijing’s marriage merry-go-round in pursuit of a car

In China, some people are so desperate for a car that they are prepared to pay almost $41,405 for a fake marriage to get a number plate.

Cyclists ride past an illegally parked Ferrari on a main road in Beijing, China. Picture: AFP

Over three years one 26-year-old Beijing woman got married and divorced 17 times. Another, 37, married and divorced 28 times.

It was not that they were indecisive or overly picky. Their successive weddings were designed to allow them to profit from the black market trade in car licence plates.

In the Chinese capital, if you want to own and drive a car you must first buy a number plate. But there is a quota, imposed by the authorities in 2011, on new number plates to reduce traffic and air pollution.

An applicant has a 1-in-3, 120 chance of securing a number plate for the 6,366 new cars the city will allow on the roads in the next two months. Faced with the high demand, the authorities released a one-time 20,000 quota for electric or hybrid cars. Only car-less families are eligible to apply, and 460,000 have done so. Anyone who wants to get a number plate must enter a lottery, and it is illegal to trade your quota. The rules do, however, allow people to give their quota to their car-free spouse.

A cyclist makes her way through a busy street in Beijing.

Both of the women have been arrested in a police operation that caught 166 suspects involved in the number plate frauds. The city authorities said they were determined to crackdown on such fake marriages.

“You must demonstrate the correct views on marriage and not get married for the sake of transferring number plates because there is the risk of disputes and fraud,” the Beijing police warned.

“If there’s an illegal sale, the number plate will become invalid.”

The frequency of the two women’s marriages and divorces offers a glimpse into the thriving black market for car plates, highlighting the voracious demand by Beijing’s 21 million residents for car ownership, which is severely restricted by the quota.

Lin Xiaoke, a Beijing resident, said of the number plate lottery: “It’s too hard, harder than winning the [cash] lottery.” He has entered the car plate lottery 56 times since 2011 to no avail.

Some people are so desperate for a car that they are prepared to pay 200,000 yuan (pounds 22,000) for a fake marriage to get a number plate.

The city’s attempts to limit the number plates issued and new cars on the road are severe but not without some justification. According to a study conducted by the US Health Effects Institute, air pollution led to 852,000 premature deaths in China in 2017.

The Times