Category: Seen on the Street

Beer!

Dongfeng truck loaded with Yanjing beer in China.
Dongfeng truck loaded with Yanjing beer in China.

Here we have a big Dongfeng truck, in the correct worker’s blue, loaded with about a hundred crates of delicious Yanjing beer, standing in front of a restaurant in central Beijing.

I saw the truck in 2007, when Yanjing beer bottles still contained 0.645 liter of easy drinkable beer with an alcohol percentage of 3.6%. In my good old days I drunk a truck of the stuff each week. Sadly, most Chinese beermakers have since changed their bottle size to the internationally more acceptable 0.5 liter.

The Dongfeng was already an oldie in 2007, and it was clearly not having an easy day with its heavy load of booze! I love the frames on the sides, with reflective 3M tape, intended to prevent bicyclist from ending up underneath. Cheers old Dongfeng, hope you are still around somewhere.

A Fiery Red Pontiac Firebird And Some Other Great Cars In Beijing

Pontiac Firebird

And on that day in 2003, I went to an old housing complex in Beijing. It is very beautiful and fully accessible but tourists have never found out about it, and as far as I know the place still exists. Luckily, I saw some great cars.

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A Beijing Water Tank Truck In The Forbidden City In Beijing

Beijing BJ130
Beijing BJ130.

A Beijing BJ130 water tank truck, seen inside the Forbidden City in Beijing in 2004. The truck belonged to the Forbidden City’s own fire department and stood in a somewhat faraway area of the enormous palace complex.

The truck comes with yellow inner-headlights, tiny narrow wheels, mirrors on the front-front fenders, and superbly basic 5-yuan reflectors on each side of the grille.

The Beijing BJ130 was manufactured by Beijing No.2 Auto Works from the mid-1970’s until the late 1980’s. It was powered by the famous 4-cylinder North 492 gasoline engine that was used in many vehicles made in those days. The engine was mated to a four-speed manual.

Until 2010 or so you could still see these great trucks standing around in the older areas of Beijing but these days most are gone and forgotten. I don’t think our fire truck is in the Forbidden City anymore, but at least she will be remembered!

A Hafei Police Van And A Six-wheel Motor Truck In China

Out in the village.

A Hafei Songhuajiang police van parked behind an intriguing partially-home made dual-axle 5-wheel flat-bed motorbike. I saw these two cars in a small village on the far west of Beijing back in the summer of 2006.

The Hafei has the word ‘police’ in English above the windshield, which is rather unusual. Normally there would be a Chinese term in that place. Songhhuajiang police minivans usually seat four officers + a bunch of criminals in a cage in the back. It didn’t seem on active duty anymore.

The motorbike was clearly in use and available for rent. The owner likely got his inspiration from these monsters. Note the extensions on the handlebars to protect the driver’s hands from sunshine. In winter, these will be replaced with thick gloves against the cold.

In the old villages around the capital you can still find all sorts of fascinating old vehicles, even today, but it is getting less and less. With the electrification of everything the old petrol cars are slowly disappearing. Go there before it is too late!

A Horse-drawn Carriage With Fruit In Beijing

Horse-drawn Carriage

A horse-drawn carriage in Beijing. Until about 2010 it was quite normal to see these in the capital in summer, bringing in fruit and vegetables from the nearby countryside and selling it straight from the cart. On warm these in the weekends you could see them on many a street corner.

And they came all they way to within the Second Ring Road! This picture was taken near Dongsi Shitiao in 2009. Sadly, today horse carts are no longer allowed inside the capital. Note the Changan-Ford Fiesta sedan in the background!