A pretty blue Dongfeng DFAC truck carrying a very heavy load of discarded carton, seen in the far east of Beijing back in 2016. The load is so heavy indeed that the truck almost seemed to break, check the position and angle of the rear wheel! DFAC stands for Dongfeng Automobile Corporation, a major Chinese truck maker, and a subsidiary of Dongfeng Motor.
The load towered over innocent local residents passing by on the bicycles and electric scooters. Chinese folks are usually not easily disturbed by dangerous situations on the road, but some were looking somewhat surprised and even annoyed at this monster. The carton sticks out on every side and is held together only by its own weight, a few flimsy ropes, and a thin cover on top.
The truck was likely on its way to a recycle facility. Recycling is a serious business in China with fine-mazed networks going from household to factory. Carton is picked up at building-level by tricycle flatbeds, then it goes to bigger facilities where it is loaded on to small trucks, and then again to the next facility where it moves to big trucks like this Dongfeng.
Imagine just half of that carton dropping on tiny tricycle taxi. It would be flat. In central Beijing these kinds of taxi’s are forbidden now but outside the Fifth Ring Road they are still very common. Most are electric nowadays.