The title rickshaw driver sounds sad, perhaps reminiscent of the increasingly numb "Camel Xiangzi", or the "Ah Si" coachman played by Zhong Hanliang. In "The Siege of October", Ah Si is a typical rickshaw driver, he wears long Qing Dynasty-style braids, his face is tanned, his feet are worn out of shoes, and he bends down every day, trying his best to pull the rickshaw.
At that time, people who made a living from this abounded, due to the corruption and incompetence of the Qing **, the country was in turmoil, and many people even had difficulty with food and clothing, so a large number of people began to pull rickshaws and do coolies in exchange for payment. It has been recorded that the average life expectancy of many rickshaw drivers is less than 40 years. This may seem incredible, aren't the people pulling the rickshaws all strong men?Why is the lifespan so short?The reason is oppression and exploitation.
Because pulling a rickshaw is an all-round fatigue work, not only the body has to bear a huge exertion, but also the soul is often destroyed, and those capitalists are eager to drain the energy of the rickshaw driver. First of all, let's learn about the original ** of rickshaws. Rickshaw is also known as Oriental car, Oriental refers to Japan, the earliest invention of rickshaw pulling cart was in Japan, at the time of industrialization reform, rickshaw drivers also appeared at that time.
However, it was not the Japanese who introduced rickshaws to China, but a French businessman who saw the lucrative potential of rickshaws and introduced them to the French Concession in the 70s of the 19th century.
The reason why rickshaws are popular in China is that they can replace horse-drawn carriages to a certain extent, and horse-drawn carriages have many disadvantages, such as horses leaving feces when they run, and the road surface becomes unhygienic over time, while rickshaws leave no residue except for a few drops of the driver's sweat during the journey. In addition, rickshaws are more agile than horse-drawn carriages, whether they are traversing narrow streets or making quick turns.
After the introduction of rickshaws to China, wealthy businessmen who held capital immediately took a fancy to this piece of fat and invested in the purchase of rickshaws. In Shanghai in the 19th century, the rickshaw industry was so cruel. Those who aspire to become rickshaw drivers first have to pay a huge amount of money to buy ownership of the rickshaw before they can start soliciting customers to make money. Just like Lao She's Xiangzi, it took him three years to save enough money to get his rickshaw, but his income was meager and he was physically and mentally exhausted.
The starting price of a rickshaw is one dime, and one more dime is added for every half mile traveled, which is equivalent to 20 yuan today. Despite this, rickshaw drivers are faced with various means of squeezing income, such as collecting "service fees", "protection fees" and so on. As a result, many rickshaw drivers work hard to pull the carts, but in the end they only receive a meager salary.
In the eyes of wealthy businessmen and foreigners, rickshaw drivers are their tools for profiteering, and even livestock, let them be devastated and squeezed out one by one. In 19th-century Shanghai, where street rickshaw drivers and wealthy merchants were in stark contrast, the city witnessed this absurd and tragic era. Under the blazing and scorching sun, the rickshaw drivers could not slack off, and even though they were full of pain, they still had to pull the rickshaw desperately, and their lives were extremely difficult.
The rickshaw drivers still struggled to shuttle through the streets and alleys in the storm, stepping on countless slippery and dirty mud puddles with their feet, letting the raindrops hit their faces, and enduring the baptism of wind and rain. Their mission is to come in the wind, go in the rain, rain, snow, and even knives without stopping, and can only use all their strength and spend all their time in exchange for barely full income.
However, in the footage of history, the real rickshaw driver is even more tragic than in the film and television drama, skinny, and his body is full of scars left by pulling the car. They are a microcosm of the miserable life of old China, reflecting the ruins of the country and the chaos of society. They were oppressed and exploited, exhausted all their strength, and most of them did not live to be 40 years old. Although they are far from our time, their stories are still heart-wrenching.
Modern people may face different hardships and difficulties, but they may also have similar sorrows as rickshaw drivers. Perhaps we are growing up in a new era of peace, justice, and prosperity, and we are no longer a money-making tool to be slaughtered by others, but can change our destiny through hard work, and the rickshaw driver seems to be powerless in this matter. The rickshaw drivers have endured storms and storms, shuttled through the streets and alleys, and suffered oppression and exploitation, but they cannot change their fate.
Their tragic experiences have left a deep imprint on history, echoing the devastation of the country and the chaos of society. Today, although we live in a new era of peace, justice and prosperity, perhaps we will also find that in some ways, we share similar painful experiences with rickshaw drivers. So, what do you think about all this?