License-Plate Marriages

YOU CAN marry for love, you can marry for money, or, in Beijing, you can marry for a license plate.

- Benjamin Carlson

As authorities try to cap the number of vehicles in China’s carchoked capital, they’ve taken to doling out new license plates via a six-time-a-year lottery. The odds are daunting. This June alone, more than 2.8 million people entered the drawing, and officials handed plates out at the lowest rate ever: one per 843 entries.

Since any driver who has resided in Beijing for more than a year can register, the drawing is fair in principle. But the license-plate system has a big loophole. While private sales of license plates are banned, the rules allow transfers between spouses.

Thus one solution: sham marriages. In crowded forums and chat rooms, plate owners offer to tie the knot—for the right price.

“All we need is a marriage registration, and we can get you a license plate,” one middleman boasts in an online ad. “No need for the lottery— pay once and get the benefit for life!”