The Beijing Traffic Management Bureau confirmed Wednesday that the city has stopped issuing license plates that contain the number four, but added that this will not have any particular effect on the five-day traffic restrictions based on the last digit of license plates.

In Chinese, the pronunciation of number four is similar to the character meaning 'death'.

Mei Bingsong, vice director of the department handling accidents at the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, said there is no link between the number of traffic accidents and license plate numbers.