Early Motoring Days in China

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The motor car in China had a slow start if compared with many other countries. Around 1900 China was an empire in decline and economically exploited by foreign powers. In China there was much aversion against this Western colonialism, giving rise to a strong nationalistic movement. This resulted in the Boxer revolt directed against the western interference, which started in 1899 and was ended in 1901 by an international coalition. If this had a direct relationship with the first motor car in China is not clear, but it is a fact that in 1901 a Duryea automobile was presented to the Queen Mother Cixi. Probably this has remained the only car in Beijing for a long time: the city were the car was present in some quantity during the early years of the 20th century was Shanghai, an important port and according to The Horseless Age in 1908 “the New York of the Far East”. In that year the number of cars in that city was about 150, which was of course still very modest compared to New York, where two years later (in 1910) already more than 60,000 vehicles were registered. Other cities were even much further behind: Hongkong had only 4 cars in 1906 and Tientsin and Hankow had even less …

The road situation in Shanghai and most other cities was very good, but due to the congested state of the traffic, The Horseless Age advised that small cars had a big advantage under these circumstances. They even advised the use of steam cars, which would be much easier in handling in this situation, but the reality was that only gasoline cars were in use.
Shanghai had its first car exposition in 1904 and had acquired a Merryweather fire engine in 1906. The cars in China were imported mainly from France, England and the USA, but in 1908 also in increasing amounts from Germany, as these appeared to be cheap and reliable. The Horseless Age mentioned the makes present from the major three countries: from France mainly De Dion, Cottereau, Renault and Richard-Brasier; from America Columbia, Cadillac, Maxwell, Reo, Rambler and a few Oldsmobiles; and from Britain Earl, Johnson, Wolseley and a couple of Humbers. The Earl did exist, but was a small car manufacturer and the Johnson is unknown to me. So this could very well have been a printing error: if we combine Earl and Johnson it sounds phonetically almost like Arrol-Johnston. This would be more likely as it was a make specially made for the rugged roads of Scotland and thus better suited for the roads outside the Chinese towns!
World traveler Charles J. Glidden had visited Shanghai in the spring of 1906, but a year later a trip of 4 cars and a tricar would become iconic: the legendary Beijing to Paris race of 1907. From the reports on this trip we have a first hand account of the fact that outside the cities the roads were still of very poor quality if there were any roads at all.(more about this tomorrow)
Before World War 1 car industry in China was virtually non-existent and only slowly started to rise in the 1920's. If anybody would have predicted then that a hundred years later the Chinese car industry would become the largest in the world, he would probably have ended in a madhouse! The spectacular fact is, that it really happened. But how it did, that's another story!

On the photos, we see on the lead photo the 1901 Duryea of Queen Mother Cixi. On the other photos a Georges Richard in Hongkong in 1903, owned by the embassy attaché and driving around with his 'gentille famille', and an early Siddeley in Shanghai in 1905.

Words and photos: Ariejan Bos

   

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