Rickshaw shop in Naturalized City
One
People who travel to any tourist spot in the country will always be attracted by a kind of person pulling a car with a long handlebar and two leaf springs installed on the wheels on the "street market", and the coachman pays for the short dress of the Qing Dynasty for people to sit on for photography, pose and make a "shape" have to pay; People who come from afar naturally do not care about the "prop fee" of a few yuan or a dozen yuan, and they are all very generous and happy.
From my point of view, "contact" this kind of "people pulling the car" is still the same as most people, but also from the movie "Camel Xiangzi", and the real sight of it was only a trip to Pingyao more than ten years ago, but it still makes me have some memories.
According to the memories of the old people, this kind of clumsy and unwieldy "car" was also given to the Empress Dowager Cixi at the end of the Qing Dynasty, saying that during the Guangxu period, the Oriental people paid tribute to Cixi Lafayette with such a car, and Lafayette was happy and rode it to the imperial garden. Whether this incident is true or false is unknown, and it is said that cities across the country gradually replaced the long-used hand-pushed duloin cars, horse-drawn carriages, cars, etc. with this light means of transportation, and did not withdraw from their "historical stage" until after liberation.
In this sense, the city in which it first arose should be Beijing or Tianjin, especially Beijing under the roots of the imperial city; But Tianjin is also a place where there were many "foreign travelers", and it is more likely to be its birthplace.
Because it was introduced to China from Japan, it is called "foreign car" or "oriental car";
After that, it gradually spread throughout the country, and there were some "changes" in the name, such as because it was made of iron sheet, the wheels were lined with a rubber ring and Tianjin people called it "rubber car", and in the south it became the "rickshaw" mentioned in Lu Xun's works;
When it reached Guisui City (Hohhot) on the border outside Cyprus, it was already in 1923, when someone got a few old-fashioned people from Beijing that were retired and could not be inflated to carry out hauling business here, injecting "fresh things" into this always "traditional" city, and because Naturalized City has always been a commercial city, it has been doing great business with Russians and even Europeans all year round, there are relatively more rich people, and they accept new things from abroad faster than those in the mainland, and more and more people use them. Even the rich businessmen and tycoons who have always been accustomed to "getting set" did not hesitate to put down their shelves and take this kind of light "oriental car" instead of taking the luxurious and noble red and green mud sedan cars, so in just a few years, the naturalized city, a city with a population of only 20,000 to 30,000, had more than 1,000 such "rickshaws", scattered in the streets and alleys of the city, for people to use at any time.
During the Republic of China, there were more than 40 rickshaw factories in Guisui and Suicheng, most of which were located in the old city; These car factories are also mostly based on the font size, but the age is relatively short, and they have not been called out by people for a while.
Because the first to rise this industry is often the suffering people who have a little savings on hand, and can bear hardships and stand hard work, flexible minds, they have just passed the years of hunger and cold, are waiting for further development opportunities, see such "new things" of course will not let go, there are a single horse to Beijing and Tianjin to buy back such "rickshaws" themselves or hire people to pull them, or several people in partnership to buy back a few cars, and then roll development to form a certain scale, and even set up their own "car factory".
Most of these "car factories" are named after the name or nickname of the treasurer, and later there are more than a dozen car factories with more than 30 cars.
In Naturalized City, the earliest depot should be the Huangsan Depot located in the City God Temple outside the north gate of the old city.
In 1923, Beijing Hu Sanzi led a young man named Xizi from Zhangjiakou with two rickshaws with dead rubber wheels to "walk to the west exit", the treasurer and the guys each pulled one, the two shared happiness and hardships, started a business together, and did not want to make a mark soon;
In 1927, Hu San returned to Beijing, bought a batch of cars in the "Shuangheshun Car Dealership" and "Shuangli Shun Car Dealership" at the mouth of Dongzhu City, Beijing, returned to Suikai Car Factory, and then developed into a large car factory with more than 100 cars.
Perhaps because the business development was too smooth, Hu San himself no longer saw the "tolerance" and "love" when he treated Xizi in the past, and then he was furious, not only mean to the cart puller, but also fierce, the cart puller was from a suffering person, and he could only swallow his anger for life, but he was called "Hu San Yan King" behind his back;
One year, a worker pulling a foreign car could not hand over the day's car money for a while, and he beat him violently and drove him out of the car factory, and then the man became a soldier, carrying a saber and carrying a gun to seek revenge on Hu San, but did not look for Hu San but cut a repairman surnamed Ji in the car factory, Jingyou Zi Hu San was very scared, ran back to Beijing and never dared to come to Sui again, but asked his Beijing friend Huang Tingxiu, nicknamed Huang San, to take over his car factory, people said:
"Sheep that are carried are often easily eaten by wolves."
At first there were eighty or ninety cars, and then they decayed.
Besides, in 1930, Hu San's wife returned to Beijing to buy a car and a car belt, and told people about the history of her family's fortune, Yu Fengchi, the owner of Beijing's "Yuji Car Factory", felt:
"Located in a remote naturalized city, silver is better to earn than under the roots of the imperial city?"
He was very envious, so he took the owner of the grain store, Kong Binzhai, and the owner of "Xiuji Car Dealership" to return to Suiji Driving Factory with him, and in 1933, the servant came to this city with 60 cars bought from Beijing's "Yiji Cheng Car Dealership" (outside the North Xi'an Gate) and "Yuelai Car Dealership" (on Dongsi Street) to open the "Xieji Car Factory".
This period is the period of great development of the rickshaw industry in Suier City, this depot was first built at No. 31, East of Nankou Road, Stone Lane, moved to No. 42 in the west of the road in 1939, and in 1941, due to internal conflicts, Yu and Kong moved into the City God Temple outside the north gate, "Xiu Ji" remained in Stone Lane, and moved to Guandi Temple on Xiaodong Street in 1944.
In 1928, Liu Tongyun, a native of Hebei, led his two brothers-in-law from Taiyuan, Shanxi Province to bring two rickshaws to Suila Yun, and gradually had savings, and opened the "Tongzhentang Depot" in 1935, with more than 50 vehicles at most;
Hebei Jiang Mengbin also opened more than 40 cars in Dadong Street in 1927;
Bian Xiaoshi and local Lu Mingyi, a native of Tianjin, jointly opened a depot on Qingquan Street in 1933, with more than 30 cars;
Shandong native Qiu surnamed Qiu opened a car factory in Sanguan Temple in 1933 with more than 30 cars;
Liu Zhiguang, a native of Jin, Ning, Hebei, opened more than 40 cars in 1935 in the car factory in Kelan Zhao, Maliantan;
Shandong native Zhang Zihan opened more than 40 cars in the Guandi Temple on Xiaodong Street in the early days of pseudonym.
In addition, there were 27 or 8 cars in the car factory opened by people from Qixian County, Shanxi Province, surnamed Fan, in Nanshuncheng Street in 1932;
Shanxi Datong, surnamed Fan, opened a car factory on Lüzumiao Street in 1933, and later moved to Pingkangli Street (now Wutasi Back Street), where there were more than 20 cars;
In 1933, a man surnamed Cui opened a depot next door to Wutasi West Street, with twenty-seven or eight vehicles;
There is a "Yang Wanfu Car Factory" on the east side of Ten Rooms (now Channel Street) Road, which was opened in 1933, with more than 20 cars;
The "Genji Depot" on Gudan Street (Xinsheng Street) was opened by Sun Jiangen, a native of Qi County, Shanxi, in 1935, with 30 cars;
Hebei native Song Shijun drove more than 20 cars in 1938 in the back street of Wutasi in Fluff Lane; In total, there are more than 1,300 "foreign cars" in the city.
There are all kinds of car factory owners in Naturalized City, there are all kinds of people, there are old money in other industries who watch rickshaw shops make money and also operate car factories, there are small traders who turn into car factories, and there are factories run by car workers themselves, and there are factories opened by Taoists;
Then there are those who own cars, pull their own transportation, and also own two or three cars in addition to their own use, rent one or two cars to others to sit on rent and collect rent, all these kinds of cars that are operating on the market are called "loose cars".
The car of the car pulling factory has to pay the car share - rent on a daily basis, as long as you pull the car out, whether you earn money or not, you have to pay a day's "car share". Good car, the car part is expensive, the second time is cheaper, the first day of the car component is two, triangle, the Japanese pseudo period increased to five or six corners, of course, the "luck foot" is also twice as high, the "car part" is not credited, the same day handed over, this is why Hu San offended the coachman mentioned above.
In addition to the scattered car, there is also a monthly bus, which is a rickshaw for rich people, some of which are brought by the owner or rented by the owner.
The moon car is more exquisite, the trimming and wiping of the pull car is also clean, and the companion is also beautiful.
There were abject poor citizens, peasants fleeing the famine, small traders who had lost money, small clerks who had been dismissed, soldiers who had retired or deserted, and so on, all of whom had changed their careers because they could not engage in their original occupations.
Pulling rickshaws requires neither a guarantee nor much money, and as long as there is strength, the factory can also provide free accommodation. Although Guisui has a population of only tens of thousands, it is a consumer-oriented commercial city, there are many people coming and going to do business, and the rickshaw trading is more prosperous than in the hinterland.
Rickshaw pullers are all wearing "No. Kan", which is a blue single Bukan shoulder, with four large white characters printed on the front of "Rickshaw Driver", and the license plate number printed on the back, so although wearing this shoulder can sell coolies to earn two hard-earned money, it has become a "lowly person" in the eyes of the rich.
Although you don't need to learn from a teacher, you also need a certain amount of technology, often can't master the handlebar when you first pull, run a foot deep and a shallow foot, pull hard yourself, the rider is also uncomfortable, run for a day or two legs and feet are swollen, the bones of the whole body are like falling apart; Pull a section, taste the strength is much better, pull up and trot all the way, the front legs are stretched and the back legs are pedaled, the waist bar is stable, the footsteps are also accurate, the handlebars are not up and down, the effort of pulling the car, the car is also comfortable, no matter how fast you run, you can stop in three steps and two steps in an emergency.
Most of the people pulling the cart are bachelors, the "home" is the car factory, the living conditions are very poor, the Sanhuang car factory rents the old road box, the car puller lives in the east room of the three major rooms, there is a large kang in the north-south direction, but it is never fired, it is covered with high beam poles, grain grass, and a layer of wooden beds on the kang, also covered with dead grass, dozens of pullers squeezed on and on the kang of this "two-story building", most of them did not even have a cover, and drilled into the grass nest, the pillow was half a brick, covered with a canvas curtain for one night.
Because of the lack of livelihood and mental distress, many people have become addicted to drugs or gambling, and have worked hard to earn a few feet of money, either smoking or losing. Some were frozen and starved and physically exhausted, pulling the car and dying on the side of the road, and when they encountered this kind of thing, the owner of the car factory asked people to carry it with a shoulder, and they went to the Lonely Soul Beach in the south of the city or the Kang Shan Zhu egg in the west of the city.
Before the Japanese invaders returned to Suizhou in the future, there was a "foreign car union" in Guisui, which was located in Caishenmiao Street in the old city, and only handled affairs such as tax collection, license issuance, and number barriers;
In order to control the rickshaw industry during the Japanese pseudo-period, a "foreign car combination" was established, the leader of the team was Lu Mingyi, and the deputy leader was Li Jinqing, located in Shangzhazi Street, and then moved to West Wujia Street. It is forcibly converting all rickshaws into shares, and pays some dividends to the owner every month, and the income of the owner of the car factory is less: for example, a car driver who has a car will only give a dividend of four or five yuan per month, while pulling a car for a day has to pay several dimes of car money, and as a result, he pulls his own car, but has to pay several yuan of "combination" car parts a month.
Later, the "combination" was changed to "cooperative", the chairman was called Zhang Zihan, the general manager was Song Shijun, and there were four branches.
A branch is in the upper grid, and the manager is Jiang Mengbin;
The second branch is in Xiaodong Street, and the manager is Liu Tongyun;
The third branch is in the City God Temple outside the north gate, and the manager is Huang San;
The fourth branch is at the railway station, and the manager is Yin Wenxiang.
Because it harmed the interests of the owners and workers of the car factory, most of the people opposed it, but under the high pressure of the Japanese invaders, most of the car factory owners did not dare to resist and were forced to participate, and finally the remaining "Xieji", "Wenji", "Genji" and Duan Xiyou several "hard bone depots" did not participate, and the security department of the Houhe Municipal Public Office arrested Yin Wenxiang of the "Wenji Depot" and Sun Jiangen of the "Genji Depot" and electrocuted.
Duan Xiyou's car was sealed up in the Sanguan Temple, and the depot had to close; The "Xieji Car Factory" was tricked into unloading the belt in the courtyard of the "combination" on Shangzhazi Street in the name of car inspection, and had to close the door, and since then a small revolt against the Japanese "combination" has been suppressed, and all the cars running on the street have become "combination".
After the surrender of the Japanese invaders, the trade union was restored, and the meeting site was in Guandimiao Street, Xiaodong Street, and the chairman was Lian Qingzhi and Wang Zixin, and organized workers to share money and buy a "foreign car righteous land" behind the village of Banyao to bury the dead foreign car workers; The owner of the car factory also established a "trade union", the chairman is Li Jinqing, and the meeting site is in the Guandi Temple on Xiaodong Street.
After liberation, the first trade union organization in New China established in Sui City on May 1, 1950 was the "rickshaw trade union", and since then the working people have had their own organization;
At the same time, with the development of society, rickshaws were gradually eliminated, and rickshaw workers threw away "foreign carts" and replaced them with pedal tricycles;
In 1956, Hohhot City established a tricycle cooperative at the same time as the establishment of a horse-drawn carriage society, camel transport society, donkey cart society, tricycle replaced with a three-wheeled motorcycle, horse-drawn carriage, camel cart, donkey cart replaced with diesel-fired collapse car, and then several united to establish the "big collective" nature of "Tongda Automobile Transport Company", rickshaws, animal carts were all replaced with cars, workers can receive a full pension when they reach retirement age, and live a truly happy life.