Washing The Taxi In China

Beijing taxi
Taxi’s in Beijing

A taxi car-washing place, seen in the not-so far east of the Chinese capital Beijing in 2011. In those days, the mandatory color was yellow, with taxi companies allowed to choose a second color.

The yellow shirt for taxi drivers was, and still is, mandatory as well. This famous shirt-rule came into effect in 2007 in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

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Volkswagen Santana Variant Is Very Unlucky In China

Volkswagen Santana Variant
Volkswagen Santana Variant

A dark blue Volkswagen Santana Variant, seen near Ikea in Beijing in 2009. The license plate reads 京E·04444. In Chinese culture and tradition, 4 is a very unlucky number, comparable with 13 in the West.

Most people therefore prefer to avoid a 4 on their license plate, fearing bad luck. The driver of this car is not so superstitious, he got himself four fours! That’s bad luck².

The Volkswagen Santana Variant station wagon was made by Shanghai-Volkswagen from 1987 until 2013, yes you read that right. It was a very popular carrier and today it has achieved somewhat of a cult status. Deservedly so!

Also note the Sinopec 2008 Olympics sticker on the left side of the window, this was for a nation-wide sponsored competition in 2007, just before the start of the Beijing Olympics. Whoever had the sticker on their car could win huge prizes. There was a TV show about it and what not.

Also, in the background, a Beijing subway train.

Volkswagen Citi Golf CLX Is White In China

Volkswagen Citi Golf
Volkswagen Citi Golf

A super cool Volkswagen Citi Golf CLX, seen on a snowy winter’s day in 2009 in the faraway Tongzhou District in east Beijing, capital of China. The good Volkswagen stood parked on a corner near a public gym, complete with two table-tennis tables! That day, nobody was playing.

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Volkswagen Individual Touareg W12 Is Dark Blue In China

Volkswagen Individual Touareg W12
Volkswagen Individual Touareg W12

Here we have a very pretty Volkswagen Individual Touareg W12, seen on a second-hand car market in the great city of Chengdu in China in 2016. The massively impressive SUV was on sale for a steep 520.500 yuan. Good deal! When new in 2006, price was a far steeper 1.58 million yuan. Not many were sold in China, so seeing one in the wild is very special.

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Volkswagen Citi Golf Is Wine Red In China

Volkswagen Citi Golf
Volkswagen Citi Golf

This little wine red beauty is a Volkswagen Citi Golf. The great VW was in good shape. Sure is was dusty, but was is not in the capital? The Volkswagen badge up front was made of metal and thus a bit rusty.

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A Volkswagen Santana 2000 Police-Fire Car In The Rain In Beijing

Volkswagen Santana 2000
Volkswagen Santana 2000

A Volkswagen Santana 2000 in heavy rain in Beijing. Note the cool Xiali sedan in the background on the right.

This vehicle belongs to fire prevention and control (消防) department of the police, so it is a bit of both a police car and a fire brigade car. The white license plate are used by the police, People’s Armed Police (PAP), and by the armed forces.

I took this photo in 2010, when the old white license plates were still in use.  WJ stands for wujing (武警), a collective abbreviation police and armed forces. 31 stands for Beijing.

The Santana 2000 was one of many Santana variants manufactured by the SAIC-Volkswagen joint venture in Shanghai. It was rather rare to see Shanghai-made cars in public service in Beijing, as the local government mostly bought locally-made cars, like Hyundai’s and Beijing’s and such.

In any way, with so much rain the fire fighters probably had an easy night!

Getting Some Varta Juice With The Santana In China

Varta car battery

A Volkswagen Santana sedan at a roadside Varta battery shop, seen in the great mega city of Chongqing a few years back.

This kind of small shops used to be everywhere but nowadays most are gone. The Santana is dressed up with a shiny wheel arch extender. The Volkswagen Santana was made in China by FAW-Volkswagen.