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Text: Chen Shuo
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introduction
"Sell charcoal, cut down and burn charcoal in the southern mountains.
His face was full of dust and smoke, and his temples were pale and his fingers were black.
What is the business of selling charcoal to make money?
The poor shirt is single, and the heart is worried and wishes for the cold. ”
———— Preface
Shanghai in the thirties of the last century has long been the ten-mile ocean, drunk and gold-obsessed Shanghai Tang.
At that time, there were less than 3,000 cars in Shanghai, and the rich and powerful traveled by car, so what kind of transportation did ordinary working-class people use to travel?
(Shanghai during the Republic of China)
First, the income is meager
The first choice of most small people, of course, is to choose to walk, and to go a little farther away, is to take the tram and bus.
And more used means of transportation, you have to count rickshaws.
Speaking of this rickshaw, at the beginning, in the twelfth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1873 in the Gregorian calendar), the little foreigner Mila introduced the rickshaw from Japan to the Shanghai Concession, and this rickshaw can be regarded as taking root in China.
(Rickshaws and coachmen during the Republic of China)
Now we see rickshaws in film and television works, they all get in the car and leave, get off the bus and give money, but in fact, it is not.
At that time, although there was a promulgated standard for the cost of the journey, the passengers basically negotiated the price with the driver before getting on the bus, and then left after the price was negotiated.
The price of rickshaws is generally low, even in Shanghai Beach, where the ten-mile ocean field is located, and the rickshaw driver pulls a long distance, only about 20 coppers.
(Rickshaw in old Shanghai)
The money earned can be said to be a drop in the bucket, because most of the rickshaw drivers are renting cars and still need to pay rent.
At that time, rickshaws were divided into two classes, A and B, and the cost of first-class rickshaws was around 100 oceans, and the second class also required 60 to 70 oceans, and it was difficult for these rickshaw drivers to afford them.
According to the data, there were more than 1,300 rickshaw drivers in Nanjing at that time, and only 205 of them could have their own cars.
(Nowadays Japanese rickshaws)
In Nanjing, for example, the monthly rent of a rickshaw ranges from 12 to 17 to 8 yuan. And zero rent a day is about three to five dimes.
After deducting these rental car fees, the rickshaw driver can earn three or four dimes a day, and at most one yuan and two dimes.
Even if you have your own car, you are only a little better off because there are all kinds of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes. In Nanjing, for example, 10 yuan is required to be paid quarterly for the operation of rickshaws.
And after all, it is your own car, and the cost of maintaining the car is also an expense, and after aging and damage, it needs to be sent for maintenance.
(The rickshaw in the current museum)
2. Life is difficult
Therefore, those who are willing to run rickshaws can be said to be the lowest group of people in society.
They have no cultural knowledge, and they can even be said to be illiterate, let alone have a prominent family background. Most of them are farmers from nearby villages, and they only have the strength to do so, so they go to the city to pull rickshaws.
Because in such a turbulent era, no matter how tired it is to pull a rickshaw, it is better than guarding the house and digging in the field.
(Rickshaw driver pulling a cart during the Republic of China)
Most of the drivers who come to the city to pull carts do not have a place to live in the city, and most of them rent houses or live in "rickshaw drivers' rest houses" built with the help of social philanthropists.
The rest house is not even called a house, just a few shacks, with a thin layer of cement on the ground and a thatched roof plastered with lime.
There were 18 such rest houses in Beiping City at that time, all of which were taken care of by some old coachmen who could not move the car, and were responsible for lighting a fire, boiling water, and doing some chores in winter.
(A restaurant used to be eaten by roadside rickshaw drivers during the Republic of China)
Even if they rent a house by themselves, the conditions will not be much better, after all, the income is meager, and most rickshaw drivers still rent only straw huts and shacks.
Such shacks are gathered in the corners of the city, next to the city. The room was dark and damp, with moldy and worn bedding, and a few broken utensils and miscellaneous utensils.
It's a shack with six or seven coachmen, who will use their hard-earned money every day to buy a few litres of rice, pick up some rotten vegetable leaves, cook some rice porridge, and fill their stomachs.
(Rickshaw driver resting)
3. Accumulation of work becomes a disease
It is such a harsh living condition that the rickshaw drivers have to pull the cart to their best to survive.
Pulling a cart is heavy physical labor, which requires pulling people and cars to run quickly, and its labor intensity is so great that basically no one can work continuously for too long.
But in order to make a living, the rickshaw drivers basically work seven to ten hours a day, divided into about 10 hours in the morning and about 12 hours in the evening.
(Camel Shoko in film and television works)
In the summer, most of the rickshaw drivers are barefoot and shirtless, running under the scorching sun. In the cold winter, they also had a single cotton coat, still sewing and mending the holes, and running forward in the wind and snow.
The poor living conditions and excessive physical labor have caused unimaginable damage to the hearts and lungs of these rickshaw drivers, and many rickshaw drivers, after several years of pulling foreign cars, have died of overwork, and many of them do not live to be 40 years old.
As Lao She wrote, "These people have been sold in the most prosperous period of their lives, and now they are dripping the blood and sweat that their nests have turned into on the road." ”
In 1946, the Nationalist Government intended to ban the rickshaw industry and replaced it with a human-powered tricycle and issued a decree. Since then, rickshaws have gradually withdrawn from the stage of history.
(Rickshaw)
Resources
The long life "road" of rickshaw.People's Transportation Network,2020-08-10
Beijing Evening News, 2020-11-23