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Research Series on the Chinese Dream
and China’s Development Path

Junxiu Wang Editor

Development
of a Society
on Wheels
Understanding the Rise of Automobile-
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Research Series on the Chinese Dream
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Junxiu Wang
Editor

Development of a Society
on Wheels
Understanding the Rise
of Automobile-dependency in China

123
Editor
Junxiu Wang
Institute of Sociology
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Beijing, China

ISSN 2363-6866 ISSN 2363-6874 (electronic)

Research Series on the Chinese Dream and China’s Development Path
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viii Acknowledgements

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Contents

1 Automobiles: A Unique Perspective on China’s Social

Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Junxiu Wang
2 China’s Automobile-Dependent Society at the Crossroads:
Annual Report on Development of the Automobile-Dependent
Society in China (2011) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Junxiu Wang
3 In Pursuit of Sustainability: Annual Report on the Development
of an Automobile-Dependent Society in China (2013) . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Junxiu Wang
4 Annual Report on Development of the Automobile-Dependent
Society in China (2011) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Junxiu Wang
5 Survey Report on Current Status of Automobiles
in China (2012) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Junxiu Wang
6 Survey Report on Chinese People’s Travel in 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Junxiu Wang
7 Analysis of Family Car Ownership Among Different Groups
in 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Junxiu Wang and Jing Quan
8 The Political Ecology of an Automobile-Dependent Society . . . . . . 181
Wanchun Deng and Xiaojue Wang
9 Urbanization and Automobile Dependency: Opportunities
and Challenges in China’s Urban Sprawl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Lin Xiaoshan

ix
x Contents

10 Research on Risky Driving Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Junxiu Wang
11 Traffic Risk and Personal Safety in Automobile-Dependent
Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Xiaoshan Lin
12 Annual Report on Consumption of the Automobile-Dependent
Society in China (2012) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Junxiu Wang
13 Research and Application of the Image of Brand Users Based
on Schema Theory: A Case Study of Car Brands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Ying Cao and Guoqun Fu
14 Annual Report on the Trend of Automobile Consumption
in China (2012) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Mingchao Xiao
Chapter 1
Automobiles: A Unique Perspective
on China’s Social Development

Junxiu Wang

1.1 The Emerging Automobile-Dependent

Society of China

Previous automobile studies by Chinese scholars focused mainly on three aspects.

The first is technological advances. The second is the economic implications of the
development of the industry, an issue the government, manufacturers, commercial
service providers as well as consumers are all keenly interested in. The third aspect
is the environment for automobile use, which has a lot to do with traffic. Whereas
the automobile as a means of transportation has spatially transformed the country’s
urban and rural landscape, it has become more and more of a source of stress for
people and cities alike. Given the growing importance of automobiles and trans-
portation in people’s daily life, the aforementioned three aspects would hardly
suffice to present the whole picture.
This study on automobile-dependent society adds a new dimension to China’s
automobile issues. Rather than discussing technology, economics or transportation
management alone, it takes an interdisciplinary approach that encompasses soci-
ology, psychology, environment, energy, law, transportation, urban science, com-
munications, economics, information technology, culture and automobile
technology to review and rethink how automobiles have reshaped our society and
life. It tries to map out the way forward for the industry, address the problems
automobiles have caused, like energy, environment pollution, traffic safety and
urban malaise, and to explore the vehicle-enabled mobility, particularly in relation
to social development.
Automobile-dependent society is not an academic concept in the strict sense, nor
is its origin traceable. Household car ownership (or more specifically, household car

J. Wang (&)
Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
e-mail: wang_jx@cass.org.cn

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. and Social Sciences Academic Press 2019 1
J. Wang (ed.), Development of a Society on Wheels,
Research Series on the Chinese Dream and China’s Development Path,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2270-9_1
2 J. Wang

ownership of 20% or above) is often used as a measure for automobile-dependent

society. This alone, however, is inadequate to define an automobile-dependent
society which has the automobiles as the major means of mobility and where the
living environment and space have been optimized for the car owners. A typical
example would be the US, or more precisely, Los Angeles, the very epitome of the
American automobile-dependent society. Speaking from the perspective of urban
planning, urban development in an automobile-dependent society focuses on and
gives priority to the vehicular traffic. Los Angeles is a city of this kind. While the
US is regarded as a country on wheels, Los Angeles is an even more striking case in
point. As is noted in a popular song, “nobody walks in LA”. Considering the
staggering growth in automobiles in the recent decade, we can rightly say China is
becoming a country on wheels.

1.2 How an Automobile-Dependent Society Came

into Being?

How did the American automobile-dependent society come into being?

R. M. Fogelson mentioned in Downtown: Its Rise and Fall, 1880–1950, “the
proliferation of private automobiles, the number of which soared from 8000 to
500,000 in 1910, 8 million in 1920, and 23 million in 1930. By then, there was one
automobile for every five people—and as many as one for every four in Detroit, the
home of the auto industry, more than one for every three in Baltimore, and nearly
one for every two in Los Angeles.”1 Around 1920, many Americans decided the
automobile was preferable to mass transit they had got used to. As a result, the
small downtown area of Los Angeles saw 250 thousand cars pour in, which means
around two fifths of the people drove to get there. By the 1940s the ratio increased
to 50%. Prior to that time, traffic jam had already plagued American cities.
A problem arising in the 1870s, congestion worsened in the following two decades
as the streets were teeming with streetcars, carriages and two-wheel pushcarts.
People who had expected the appearance of faster vehicles would ease up the traffic
jam turned out to find that the conflux of trucks, cars, streetcars and horse-drawn
vehicles made the traffic even worse. In the 1920s, people came to realize that the
rapid increase of cars led to traffic problems. The technical department and the
government proposed to ban the entry of private cars into downtown areas but
the proposal was later dropped due to strong objection. The American people
worked out many measures to deal with traffic congestion, including tough traffic
regulations and expressways built to divert vehicular traffic. Different types of
vehicles were funneled onto different roads and the vehicular and pedestrian traffic
was segregated. Unauthorized parking or pedestrian through traffic was forbidden.
One-way roads were designated, where traffic was not allowed to move in the

1
See [1].
1 Automobiles: A Unique Perspective on China’s Social Development 3

opposite direction. Traffic and parking signs emerged first, then traffic control
gestures, and then red and green signal lights. Vehicle registration and driving
license policies were introduced. Drivers must use lights after dark. Through traffic
had priority over turning traffic, so as to reduce congestion. At certain sections left
turns were forbidden. Though these measures did help reduce traffic jams and
improve the management of traffic movements, they failed to fundamentally solve
road congestion in American cities.
Other measures introduced included building roads to divert vehicles which
would otherwise have to pass through the downtown areas to reach the other end of
the city. Pedestrian lanes and overpasses were built, and so were elevated highways
to avoid clogging at level-crossings. The rapidly expanding traffic, however, soon
outpaced the construction of roads, which, once up and running, would be teeming
with automobiles. It was also found that the automobile traffic, increasing more than
twice as fast as the population, was outgrowing the cities’ ability to accommodate
it. Some began to argue for mass transit, saying the city was saturated with cars and
the huge cost in time would make people abandon driving for public means of
transportation. Trams, for example, would be more efficient as a tram route could
carry more than three times the riders on three motor vehicle lanes, while a subway
or elevated railway carried nearly 50 times more. They argued that the cities would
be better advised to improve mass transit systems than to build highways. They
made the proposal as early as 1926, a great insight back then. Had it been accepted,
the American cities might have a different look today. But interest groups, car
manufacturers in particular, actively lobbied for expressways. Closely allied with
them were car dealers, suppliers, the steel, rubber and petroleum industries, the
motorists’ associations at various levels, and construction contractors. Expressway
planners and engineers were also with them, offering research to support their
position. Local and federal officials, too, viewed expressway construction as a way
to create jobs during the Great Depression and to help stabilize the economy after
WWII. The expressway was extolled as a very attractive idea as it would allow “a
free flow of vehicular traffic”. “There should be no more reason for a motorist who
is passing through a city to slow down than there is for an airplane which is passing
over it”. “The days of traffic jam are gone”. “The wide expressway extends its way
to the city’s doorstep”. “The freeways would enable the cities to remedy, or pos-
sibly halt, the decentralization of business and the depreciation of downtown
property values”. These arguments held a lot of appeal to many industries and
people from different backgrounds.2
Under the pressure of lobbyists, city officials and downtown commercial interest
groups, the state and federal governments reluctantly gave up their long-held
position that urban highways were a local responsibility. The state began to des-
ignate urban freeways as state highways which were funded mostly by gasoline
taxes. The federal government, which had long included country road construction
into its budget, started to subsidize urban highways, first as part of President

2
Ibid, pp. 344–345.
4 J. Wang

Roosevelt’s New Deal programs and later as a national defense endeavor. And
Congress was holding hearings on legislation that would eventually lead to the
creation of the National Inter-state and Defense Highway System, which would
include most of the nation’s as yet unbuilt urban freeways.3 Later, the US
expressway network gradually took form while the old elevated railways were
removed, and the automobile became the main means of travel.
China has joined the ranks of automobile-dependent societies at a stunning
speed. This epitomizes the country’s stunning economic success brought by its
opening-up & reform policy, and points to the process of how China has grown
from an insignificant automobile manufacturer to a very important player in the
world scene. Back in the early 1980s, the government decided to curtail car pro-
duction and use for energy conservation purpose. In 1982 the national automobile
production was reduced to 80,000 according to the government plan, around one
third the level in 1980, and a large number of private cars were left unused in the
garages. But today, things are poles apart from 35 years ago, with more than 80,000
vehicles produced every day. In 2015, the production and sales of Chinese auto-
mobiles reached a record high of 24.5033 million and 24.5976 million respectively,
up 3.3 and 4.7% over the previous year. Since China overtook the US to become a
leading automobile producer and market in 2009, China’s automobile production
and sales have undergone exponential growth, which almost doubled by 2010,
topped the 20 million mark to reach 22.1168 million and 21.9841 million in 2013,
and rose to 23.72 million and 23.49 million in 2014 (see Fig. 1.1).
In the 1980s, the motor vehicles produced in China were mostly commercial
vehicles, trucks in particular. When China’s automobile industry was in recession in
1982, a five-ton Dongfeng truck sold for RMB18000 only. The buyers were all
danwei (organizations) rather than individuals. Today, the tally is mostly about
passenger vehicles sold to numerous households. In 2014, of the 23.72 million and
23.49 million vehicles produced and sold across the country, passenger vehicles
numbered 19.92 million and 19.7 million, up 10.2 and 9.9% year on year while the
commercial vehicles numbered 3.8 million and 3.79 million, down 5.7 and 6.5%.
About 20 million families purchase cars each year, and that means a population of
60 million, if we assume each family has three members. By the end of October
2015, China registered 276 million motor vehicles, including 169 million cars.
About 90% of them, or 150 million, were private cars. We can still assume each
family has three members while ignoring the small number of households which
own more than one car, and we would then have about 450 million car users. If
users increase by 60 million on a yearly basis, China will soon see more than half of
its population using cars. This trend is also perceptible in the growth of the number
of direct car users. In October 2015, China had a total of 322 million drivers,
including 275 million car drivers.4 The new car drivers, as potential direct users,
would keep pushing up the vehicles sales and production.

3
Ibid, pp. 348–349.
4
See [2].
1 Automobiles: A Unique Perspective on China’s Social Development 5

Fig. 1.1 Automobile production and sales in China, 2008–2015 (in 10,000 s)

Fig. 1.2 Changes in China’s private automobile ownership. Source China Statistical Yearbook
2015

Private automobile ownership in China grew with the economy (see Fig. 1.3).
With the accumulation of social wealth and improvement of living standards, the
automobile has become, after houses, yet another important consumer product and
even part of our lives. Table 1.1 and Fig. 1.2 both present the changes in the
numbers of motor vehicles, passenger vehicles, trucks, in urban and rural resident
income and per capita GDP since 1985 when the nascent Chinese automobile
industry had just entered an era of growth.
6 J. Wang

Fig. 1.3 Changes in private car ownership. Source China Statistical Yearbook 2015

Table 1.1 Motor vehicle ownership and resident income

Total Number of Number Per capita Per capita Per
number of passenger of trucks disposal net income capita
motor vehicles (in income of of rural GDP
vehicles (in 10,000 s) urban residents (RMB)
(in 10,000 s) residents (RMB)
10,000 s) (RMB)
1985 28 2 26.48 739.1 397.6 860
1990 82 24 57.48 1510.2 686.3 1654
1995 250 114 131.83 4283 1577.7 5074
2000 625 365 259.09 6280 2253.4 7902
2005 1848 1384 452.11 10,493 3254.9 14,259
2006 2333 1824 494.91 11,759.5 3587 16,602
2007 2876 2317 539.45 13,785.8 4140.4 20,337
2008 3501 2881 596.39 15,780.8 4760.6 23,912
2009 4575 3808 753.4 17,174.7 5153.2 25,963
2010 5939 4990 931.52 19,109.4 5919 30,567
2011 7327 6237 1067.43 21,809.8 6977.3 36,018
2012 8839 7637 1175.63 24,564.7 7916.6 39,544
2013 10,502 9198 1275.49 26,955.1 8895.9 43,320
2014 12,339 10,945 1352.78 29,381 9892 46,629
Source China Statistical Yearbook 2015

Figure 1.4 shows that the numbers of motor vehicles, passenger vehicles and
trucks grow in positive relation to the per capita disposal income of urban residents
and per capita GDP.
1 Automobiles: A Unique Perspective on China’s Social Development 7

Fig. 1.4 Motor vehicle ownership and resident income. Source China Statistical Yearbook 2015

1.3 What Does Automobile-Dependency Bring?

Some sociologists criticize the scholars for their indifference to the impact of
automobiles on society. One billion cars were manufactured in the 20th century.
Currently over 500 million cars are around, a figure that is expected to double by
2015. The automobiles’ such huge influence is seldom discussed by sociologists.
“The social sciences have generally ignored the motor car and its awesome con-
sequences for social life. Three ‘disciplines’ that ought to have examined the social
impact of the car are industrial sociology, the analyses of consumption practices and
urban studies. Within industrial sociology there has been little examination of how
the mass production of cars has extraordinarily transformed social life. It did not see
how the huge number of cars being produced through ‘Fordist’ methods, especially
within the US, were impacting upon the patterns of social life as car ownership
became ‘democratized’ and ‘generalized’. Within the study of consumption there
has not been much examination of the use-value of cars in permitting extraordinary
modes of mobility, new ways of dwelling in movement and the car culture to
develop. The main question for consumption analyses has concerned sign-values,
with the ways that car ownership in general or the ownership of particular models
does or does not enhance people’s status position. The car as the locus of con-
sumption normally remains on the drive of the house.” “It was in the modern city
that the founders of sociology first envisioned the contraction of social space, the
density of transactions and the compression of ‘social distance’ that comprised
modernity. Indeed, urban studies have at best concentrated upon the sociospatial
practice of walking and especially on ‘strolling’ in the city. It has been presumed
that the movement, noise, smell, visual intrusion and environmental hazards of the
car are largely irrelevant to deciphering the nature of city life. Many urban analyses
have, in fact, been remarkably static and concerned themselves little with the forms
of mobility into, across and through the city.” “In general, then, the cars have been
8 J. Wang

conceived of either as a neutral technology, permitting social patterns of life that

would happen anyway, or as a fiendish interloper that destroyed earlier patterns of
urban life. Urban studies has omitted to consider how the car reconfigures urban
life, involving, as we shall describe, distinct ways of dwelling, traveling and
socializing in, and through, an automobilized time-space. It is exactly what we
should consider. We argue that mobility is as constitutive of modernity as is
urbanity, that civil societies of the West are societies of ‘automobility’ and that
automobility should be examined through six interlocking components. It is the
unique combination of these components that generates the specific character of
domination of automobility across most societies across the globe”.5 Automobility
can be understood in six dimensions. First, it is the quintessential manufactured
object produced by the leading industrial sectors and the iconic firms within the
20th-century capitalism (Ford, GM, Rolls-Royce, Mercedes, Toyota, VW and so
on); hence, it represents the industry from which key concepts such as Fordism and
post-Fordism have emerged to analyze the nature of, and changes in, the trajectory
of western capitalism. Second, whether in Western countries or in China, the
automobile is the major item of individual consumption after housing which pos-
sesses more than use values since it provides status to its owner/user through the
sign-values with which it is associated (such as speed, passion, family, safety,
success, freedom, masculinity, rebellion, dynamism, vitality, wealth and fashion).
To Americans, the American dream involves the house, the automobile and work.
The automobile is dwelling in movement. And indeed there is the motor home. The
automobile is also a luxury, high-tech product, an item of fashion, a collectible, an
instrument and a mode of motion. In a word, the automobile links all aspects of
people’s life, and generates massive amounts of crime (theft, speeding, drunk
driving, dangerous driving). Third, there is an extraordinarily powerful machinic
complex constituted through the car’s technical and social interlinkages with other
industries, including car parts and accessories, petrol refining and distribution,
road-building and maintenance, motels, roadside service areas, car sales and repair
workshops, suburban house building, advertising and marketing, urban design and
planning. Fourth, automobility becomes a predominant global form of
‘quasi-private’ mobility that subordinates other ‘public’ mobilities of walking,
cycling, traveling by rail and so on; and it reorganizes how people negotiate the
opportunities for, and constraint upon, work, family life, leisure and pleasure. Fifth,
automobility becomes the dominant culture that sustains major discourses of what
constitutes the good life, career success and modern fashion. Sixth, automobility
incurs irreversible consequences upon the environment and resources in the process
of car making, road building and car environment construction, like the consider-
able consumption of steel and nonferrous metal, bad air quality, damage of ozone,
poor visual environment, noises, increasing medical expenses, casualties, the
environment changing for the worse and excessive consumption of energy.

5
See [3].
1 Automobiles: A Unique Perspective on China’s Social Development 9

What on earth has the automobile, a machine that had changed the world,
brought us? A close examination of our living environment and especially cities
shows that whatsoever we have got used to is reconstructed around the “intruder” of
the automobile. The automobile development races ahead, changing everything in
the world, like the urban space, geographical environment, physical distance, social
distance, interpersonal relationships and social status. In the early 1980s, American
transportation experts found through a research at Berkley, California, that when
the traffic flow reached 2000 vehicles per day, an average local resident has three to
six acquaintances; when the figure reaches 8000, the acquaintances number one to
four; and when the traffic flow reaches 16,000 vehicles per day, the resident nearly
has no acquaintance.6
With industrial development and population growth, Los Angeles has become a
large city in the United States, second only to New York. In this process, Los
Angeles always ranks among the national top in terms of the increase of automo-
biles. In the 1940s, Los Angeles had 2.5 million cars which consumed 16 million
liters of gasoline per day; by the 1970s, the number of automobiles increased to
more than 4 million as the city boasted a developed highway network, which
covered 30% of the city space; every day as many as 168 thousand vehicles drove
through the highway. The direct result from the increase of automobiles is that Los
Angles became a smog city where the leaked and evaporated oil, car emission, CO,
NO and lead fume had photochemical reaction under strong sunlight, giving rise to
the light blue photochemical smog which often persisted for days. The severe smog
caused diseases with eyes and throats and sources of stress, led to diseases among
livestock, stunted plant growth, rubber aging, erosion of materials and architecture,
lower atmospheric visibility, and even more seriously, car accidents and plane
crashes. The grave photochemical pollutions in 1952 and 1955 each claimed lives
of more than 400 elders aged over 65.7
Chinese society changes with the automobile development. China saw the
expressway mileage increase from 100 to more than 110 thousand kilometers from
1988 to 2013, forming an expressway network among cities. The total mileage of
roads in China also increased from nearly one million in 1988 to 4.4639 million
kilometers in 2014, more than four times the original mileage. As a result, the
transportation network covering major areas of the country has taken shape
(See Table 1.2).
China’s energy consumption also increases with the growth in automobile
ownership. In 1990 the national consumption of gasoline was 52,000 tons on a
daily basis and after that the figure keeps growing rapidly (See Fig. 1.5). By 2013 it
increased five times, reaching 257 thousand tons.
The biggest problem brought by the automobiles is traffic congestion. At present,
traffic jam is common from big to small and medium-sized cities. Beijing is the first
city that imposed vehicle restrictions in China, and then the city has adopted the car

6
See [4].
7
See [5].
10 J. Wang

Table 1.2 China road Expressway mileage Total road mileage

mileage growth (10,000 km)
1988 0.01 99.96
1990 0.05 102.83
1995 0.21 115.7
2000 1.63 167.93
2005 4.1 334.52
2010 7.41 400.82
2014 11.19 446.39

Fig. 1.5 Daily consumption

of gasoline nationwide
(10,000 tons)

purchase restriction policy, which still fails to mitigate traffic jam. In 2015 Beijing
registered 5.61 million vehicles. According to the Road Traffic Analysis Report in
June 20158 released by Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, the Traffic
Index registered a much higher rate in 2015 than in 2014, up by nearly 30% (see
Table 1.3), i.e., the traffic jam worsened. The Traffic Index is set on a scale of 0–10,
falling into five grades. The higher the score is, the more serious the traffic jam is.
A score of 0–2 means the road is “unblocked”: The traffic goes smoothly, with
nearly no congestion, and vehicles drive according to the road speed requirement;
2–4 means “basically unblocked”: The traffic is good, with some congestion, and it
takes 1.2 to 1.5 times the normal travel time; 4–6 means “slightly congested”: The
traffic is bad, and it takes 1.5–1.8 times the normal travel time to drive through
some ring and trunk roads; 6–8 means “moderately congested”: The traffic is poor,
and it takes 1.8–2.1 times the normal travel time to drive though most of the ring
and trunk roads; 8–10 means “severely congested”: The traffic almost comes to a
standstill as most of the urban roads are clogged up, and it takes over 2.1 times the
normal travel time. The Traffic Index in June 2015 shows in Beijing during the
morning and evening rush hour the general traffic has worsened to moderate con-
gestion, compared with mild congestion in the same period of the previous year.
The six districts in Beijing have seeness even worse traffic during rush hour in
the morning and evening. In June 2015 the traffic index of the morning rush hour in

8
http://www.bjjtw.gov.cn/xxgk/jttj/201507/t20150717_109335.html.
1 Automobiles: A Unique Perspective on China’s Social Development 11

Table 1.3 Beijing traffic index in June 2015

Traffic index June 2014 May 2015 June 2015 Year on Chain
year (%) index (%)
Morning peak hours 5.4 7.1 7.4 +36.4 +4.2
Evening peak hours 6.0 7.2 7.7 +29.8 +6.8
Peak average 5.7 7.2 7.5 +31.6 +4.2

Xicheng District reached 8.7, Dongcheng 8; during evening rush hour the two
districts respectively reached 9.2 and 9.1, and Chaoyang 8.4, a level indicating
severe congestion (See Table 1.4). In addition, each Friday, when the restricted
traffic concerns cars with plates ending with the number of 4 or 9 or in case of bad
weather like rain, the average traffic index during rush hour will amount to severe
congestion.
According to 2014 Beijing Environmental Statement,9 the average density of
PM2.5 in Beijing reached 85.9 milligrams per cubic meter, 1.45 times higher than
the national standard; the average density of SO2 21.8 milligrams per cubic meter,
up to the national standard; NO2 56.7, 42% higher than the national standard; the
inhalables 115.8, 65% higher than the national standard. The research on the
sources of PM2.5 in Beijing in 2014 shows regional transportation contributed
28–36% of the PM2.5 in Beijing; the local pollutant emission 64–72%. Motor
vehicles, coal combustion, industrial production and fugitive dust are the major
sources, respectively causing 31.1, 22.4, 18.1, and 14.3% of local pollution; the
pollution from other sources like catering, vehicle repair, poultry and livestock
breeding, and architecture coating accounts for 14.1%.

1.4 Is the Automobile-Dependent Society Possible?

With automobiles’ rapid entry into the average family, people seem to have
accepted the concept that it is matter of time for China to enter the automobile-
dependent society which is a reproduction from the automobile-dependent society
of European and American developed countries. Just speaking from the rapid
development of China’s automobile industry, that day will come very soon. But
considering the traffic condition in the big cities that take the lead to advance to the
automobile-dependent society, one can’t help wondering whether automobile-
dependent society is possible at all.
The US has paid a high price for its automobile-dependency. According to
estimates by Moshe Safdie, people in North America cover a distance equivalent to
a roundtrip to the planet Pluto in their cars every day. They own close to 200

9
http://125.39.35.143/files/422600000636D652/www.bjepb.gov.cn/bjepb/resource/cms/2015/04/
2015041609380279715.pdf.
12 J. Wang

Table 1.4 Traffic index for the six districts in Beijing

Traffic Morning rush hour Evening rush hour Peak average
index 2015 Chain 2015 Chain 2015 Chain
May June index (%) May June index (%) May June index (%)
Dongcheng 7.9 8.0 +1.8 8.9 9.2 +3.5 8.4 8.7 +3.1
Xicheng 8.7 8.7 +0.3 8.7 9.1 +5.0 8.7 8.9 +2.8
Chaoyang 7.4 7.7 +3.4 8.1 8.4 +3.1 7.8 8.0 +2.7
Haidian 7.2 7.6 +5.2 7.1 7.6 +6.9 7.2 7.6 +5.1
Fengtai 5.4 5.7 +5.7 3.9 4.3 +11.2 4.7 5.0 +6.5
Shijingshan 5.3 5.4 +1.4 3.8 4.1 +8.0 4.6 4.7 +2.1

million cars, pay an average of USD 6,000 a year to buy, maintain, insure and
regulate every one of them, and spend an additional USD 3000 to USD 4000 per car
on infrastructure, policing, parking, and other car-related services. In the
mid-1990s, the federal, state, and local governments in the United States spent a
combined USD 93 billion on highways alone.10
In the Los Angeles region, 60% of all travel is by private car and another 24% by
rented car. Public transportation is involved in only 8% of the all trips taken in the
city. In Los Angeles, every 1000 square feet of office space requires 1300 square
feet of parking space, up to five parking places. For shopping centers, every 1000
net square feet of office space requires 990 square feet of parking space. In other
words, the ratio between the floor space of public buildings and that of the parking
facilities should be no less than 1:1. According to this standard, Beijing needs to
increase the total floor space.11
Los Angeles Airport has 22,000 parking spaces, but the newly built T3 in
Beijing Capital Airport has only 6834 parking spaces. If the same standard is to be
followed in Beijing Capital Airport, at least two more garage towers of the current
size should be built.
About one half of the land in Los Angeles is devoted to car-only environments.12
Suppose each car occupies a space of 122 square feet (around 11.34 m2) and has a
volume of 615 cubic feet (around 17.4 m3), then the parking garage must leave a
space of 350 square feet (32.55 m2) or 2800 cubic feet (79.24 m3) so that each car
can park inside. According to the Transportation Administration Bureau under
Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, Beijing registers a total of 3970
parking lots and 741,090 parking spaces, including the temporary roadside parking
sections, public parking sites beyond the road and underground parking lots.13
There are less than 100 thousand parking spaces within the second ring. In 2015

10
See [6].
11
Ibid, p. 108.
12
See [7].
13
Wang Wei. First released data about 741,090 registered parking spaces in Beijing. http://auto.
163.com/11/0412/08/71E7QPMA00084MTD.html.
1 Automobiles: A Unique Perspective on China’s Social Development 13

Beijing owned 5.61 million vehicles, but in 2014 Beijing had only 2.9 million
parking spaces, with a shortfall of 3.5 million.14 In other words, as many as half of
the vehicles have to be curbside- parked. According to the standards of Los
Angeles, the other 2 million cars in Beijing require an additional parking space of
64 km2, a size equal to the urban area within the second ring road of Beijing.
According to estimates by the transportation department, the lengthening of the
road by one kilometer means 1000 tons of asphalt, 400 tons of cement and a lot of
sand are to be paved on the road. If China’s roads and parking lots were to catch up
with the US level, it means the whole of Jiangxi and Shandong provinces would be
covered in cement and asphalt. Even if we follow a lower standard of 0.02 ha of
parking space for a car as in Japan and Europe, in comparison to the 0.07 ha in the
US, and if every two Chinese people own one car, the 600 million cars owned by
Chinese will occupy 13 million hectares, half of the rice plantation area in China.15
In the United States, the most intensive automobile growth occurred after the
WWII and was enhanced by the construction of the interstate highway system,
which was supported by federal legislation in 1956. But since the 1960s, the public
in Western countries showed unanimous doubt about the government’s vigorous
support for vehicular traffic and the expressway network. Especially in the 1970s,
the oil crisis and awakening of environmental protection awareness sent the
otherwise post-WWII influential consumption-promoting philosophy faltering.
People came to doubt the worsening cycle of “Cars-parking garages-expressways”
and propose the “post-automobile era” concept.16
Apart from issues related to automobile dependency, China also needs to deal
with problems associated with the period before and after it occurs. From a soci-
ological point of view, the integration of economics, environmental science and
urban studies holds special significance to research on the features and development
of the automobile-dependent society. Sociologists have identified a number of
different types of societies and named them according to their dominant features,
including industrial society, information society, consumption society and risk
society. But the automobile-dependent society differs from all of them. While an
automobile-dependent society must feature a high percentage of automobile own-
ership, the automobile is not in itself a distinct social feature. Rather, it is that
unique product and instrument that has brought about significant changes to society
as a whole, to its spatial configuration, and to people’s lives.
The automobile is far more than a travel tool since no other product carries as
much significance. The automobile development in the past 30-plus years in the
country epitomizes the success of China’s reform and opening-up and the auto-
mobile also serves as the powerful testament to social transformation and devel-
opment in China.

14
See [8].
15
See [9].
16
See [10].
14 J. Wang

References

1. Fogelson, R.M. 2010. Downtown: Its Rise and Fall, 1880–1950. Translated by Zhou Shangyi,
Zhi Cheng and Wu Liping, 321. Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House.
2. Xiao Que. 2016. How Important Are 276 Million Motor Vehicles to Chinese Traffic Safety.
China Youth Daily, January 7, 2016.
3. Sheller, Mimi, and John Urry. 2008. The City and the Car. In The City Cultures Readers, ed.
Wang Min’an, Chen Yongguo, and Ma. Hailiang, 208–209. Beijing: Peking University Press.
4. Dezhao, Yang. 2006. New Community and New City: Fall of Residential Quarters and Rise of
New Communities, 82. Beijing: China Electric Power Press.
5. Zhong, Guang. 2009. Big Revolution of Chinese Automobile-Dependent Society, 18–19.
Beijing: China Modern Economics Publishing House.
6. Safdie Moshe. 2010. The City after the Automobile. Translated by Yue Wu, 110. Beijing:
People’s Literature Publishing House.
7. Sheller, Mimi, and John Urry. 2008. The City and the Car, In The City Cultures Reader, ed.
by Wang Min’an, Chen Yongguo and Ma Hailiang, 219. Beijing: Peking University Press.
8. Qian, Sun, and Huang Hailei. 2015. Facing a Shortfall of 3.8 Million Parking Spaces, Beijing
to Resume Payable Parking Space Policy. Beijing Times, May 30, 2015.
9. Zhong, Guang. 2009. Chinese Automobile-Dependent Society’s Big Revolution, 42. Beijing:
China Times Economic Press.
10. Moshe. 2001. The City after the Automobile. Translated by Wu Yue, 121. Beijing: People’s
Literature Publishing House.
Chapter 2
China’s Automobile-Dependent
Society at the Crossroads: Annual
Report on Development
of the Automobile-Dependent
Society in China (2011)

Junxiu Wang

2.1 Automobile-Dependent Society

Automobile-dependent society has become a more and more familiar concept to

people. What is central to the automobile-dependent society is that the number of
automobiles has increased so much that people become obviously more reliant on
them, which is typically reflected in the extensive car ownership by average
households and its influence upon society. The result: A unique society charac-
terized by automobiles has taken form. According to research, the phrase
automobile-dependent society originates from Japan and it was put forward in the
1970s when car ownership became universal in Japan. At that time, many changes
took place: Interpersonal relationships underwent dramatic changes and life tempo
became markedly faster, so the Japanese experts coined the phrase automobile-
dependent society.1
“Industrial Society”, “Information Society”, “Consumption Society” and “Risk
Society” accentuate the characteristics of society during a certain period of time;
likewise, the automobile-dependent society shows the motor vehicles and in par-
ticular the cars as unique and automatically moving consumption items have shaped
individuals’ lifestyle, interpersonal relationships, time, space, social forms, culture
and fashion. It can be said that no other commodity has as multiple properties and
as rich connotations as the automobile. If computers are comparable to automobiles,
the latter far surpass the former in terms of their influence upon the life of a certain
group of people during a certain period of time. In other words, the automobile
1
NTI Automobile Research: 2009 Blue Book on the Automobile-dependent Society in China,
http://auto.ifeng.com/news/comprehensive/20100424/283118.shtml.

J. Wang (&)
Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
e-mail: wang_jx@cass.org.cn

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. and Social Sciences Academic Press 2019 15
J. Wang (ed.), Development of a Society on Wheels,
Research Series on the Chinese Dream and China’s Development Path,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2270-9_2
16 J. Wang

possesses properties absent in common commodities and products. It is more than a

means of transportation; it is called the machine that has changed the world.2 The
automobile industry is regarded by the management master Peter F. Drucker as the
industry of industries since it not only manufactures the industrial products of
automobiles, but also upgrades the industry and management in general as it has
given rise to Fordism, Toyotaism and lean management. It has transformed people’s
lives in most parts of the world, compressed the space and changd the concept of
time. It enables numerous people to move from place to place by themselves and
satisfies people’s desire to broaden their horizon. The automobile, a system made
up of more than 30,000 parts, has reshaped the social system and given birth to
automobile culture, all-roundly restructuring the geographical, social and spiritual
space of society.

2.2 China as Fledgling Automobile-Dependent Society

2.2.1 With Steady Increase in Car Ownership, China

Became an Automobile-Dependent Society in 2012

An important indicator of the automobile-dependent society is the rate of auto-

mobile ownership. One widely-held opinion holds that the criterion for automobile-
dependency is 20 or more cars for every 100 households. Correspondingly, a
society is in a state of pre-automobile-dependency if it has a lower car ownership
rate, and a mature automobile-dependent society is one in which on average each
household owns at least one car.3
In 1886 Karl Benz built the first automobile in the world; 100 years later, nearly
290,000 private cars are registered in China, including less than 20,000 passenger
vehicles. In 1978, the year in which the Chinese government officially adopted the
policy of reform and opening up, automobile production and sales volume was less
than 150,000 and most of them were trucks. In 1978 there were 1.3584 million
motor vehicles in China; by the beginning of the 21st century the number increased
to 16.0891 million; and in 2010, another decade later, it increased to 78.02 million.
Over a span of 32 years, the number increased by more than 56 times. In the same
year, there were as many as 65.39 million private cars in the country, a 225-fold
increase from 25 years ago. According to the public security authorities, motor
vehicle ownership of in the country reached 207 million at the end of 2010,
including 90.86 million cars.4 The number of family cars increased from 4.3 million
in 2003 to 34.43 million in 2010, up by seven times in as many years. The portion

2
See [1].
3
Opportunities and Challenges for Automobile-dependent Society in China. Auto Industry
Research (3).
4
See [2].
2 China’s Automobile-Dependent Society at the Crossroads … 17

of private cars among all registered cars is increasing year on year, from 42.79% in
2001 to 83.81% in 2010, up by nearly one fold. The increase is mainly attributable
to family car ownership. In 2003, the portion of family cars among all registered
cars was 18.04%; it reached 44.13% in 2010, with family cars accounting for more
than a half of private cars (see Table 2.1).
Figure 2.1 shows the increase of private cars in China over the years. Take the
population statistics from 2001 to 2009 released by the National Bureau of Statistics
as the base, suppose each family has three members on average and figure out the

Table 2.1 Number of registered motor vehicles in China from 2001 to 2010 (10,000; %)
Year Number of Growth Number of private cars
registered rate Registered Ratio Including: Ratio
automobiles number number of
family cars
2001 1802 12.00 771 42.79 – –
2002 2053 13.93 969 47.20 – –
2003 2383 16.07 1219 51.15 430 18.04
2004 2694 13.05 1481 54.97 600 22.27
2005 3160 17.30 1848 58.48 861 27.25
2006 3697 16.99 2333 63.11 1149 31.08
2007 4358 17.88 2876 65.99 1522 34.92
2008 5010 14.96 3501 69.88 1947 38.86
2009 6280 25.35 4574 72.83 2605 41.48
2010 7802 24.24 6539 83.81 3443 44.13
Source National Bureau of Statistics of China: Statistical Communique of the People’s Republic of
China on the 2010 National Economic and Social Development and China Statistical Yearbook
2010

Fig. 2.1 Car ownership by every 100 families from 2001 to Q1 2002. Source National Bureau of
Statistics of China Statistical Communique of the People’s Republic of China on the 2010.
National Economic and Social Development and China Statistical Yearbook 2010 The data for
2011 and 2012 are forecasts
18 J. Wang

number of families nationwide based on the sixth national census in 2010, and we
can find the number of cars owned by every 100 families increased from less than 2
in 2001 to nearly 15 in 2010. In the first half of 2011, the automobile production
and sales growth slowed down, respectively registering a rate of 2.48 and 3.35%. If
this growth rate continues, China will have at least over 20 million more private
cars in 2011; in the first quarter of 2012 at the latest, China’s private car ownership
will reach 86.5 million; the car ownership by every 100 families will reach 20 and
China will rank among the auto societies on account of the large number of
registered cars.

2.2.2 The Number of Provinces and Cities that Have

Become Automobile-Dependent Continues to Grow

According to our working threshold for automobile-dependency, set at ownership

of 20 automobiles among every 100 households, the age of automobile-dependency
has already arrived in some provinces and cities in China, such as Beijing, Tianjin
and Zhejiang province. In 2010, the number of private cars owned by every 100
households reached about 60 in Beijing; in 2009 the figure was 25.3 in Tianjin and
nearly 20 in Zhejiang, in which the number grew to 26.43 for every 100 urban
households in 2010 (see Fig. 2.2). In 2010, Guangzhou registered 21 cars for every
100 urban households; Shandong 19.9; Chengdu 30.7 (13.2 in rural areas);
Shenyang 21.4; Xi’an 28.65; Shenzhen 27.6; Nanjing 25.2; and Suzhou 25.8.
Additionally, many second- and third-tier cities across the country, such as
Tangshan, Wenzhou, Dongguan and Erdos, register more than 20 cars for every
100 household.
These numbers show how rapidly car-ownership has been growing in China’s
urban areas. Many of the more economically developed regions have crossed the
threshold and entered the age of automobile-dependency. Sales figures from cities
of different sizes show that first-tier cities accounted for over 40% of the total in
2005 and the ratio decreased to slightly more than 30% in 2010; sales figures in
second-tier cities remain stable; and in third- and fourth-tier cities they show sig-
nificant increase.6 If we draw a map of the future automobile-dependent society
based on the family car ownership alone, we will find growing density of spots
marking cities that are already automobile-dependent: scattered dots become dotted
lines, then dotted planes, gradually taking over the country’s entire territory.

5
Based on the statistical communiques of all provinces and municipalities in China on the 2010
national economic and social development.
6
All-roundly Going into Automobile-dependent Society, Automotive Observer, (2).
Another random document with
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Kapinallinen Lo
Ta
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
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Title: Kapinallinen Lo Ta
Koomillinen kiinalainen seikkailuromaani

Author: Nai'an Shi

Translator: Reino Silvanto

Release date: November 8, 2023 [eBook #72068]

Language: Finnish

Original publication: Helsinki: Otava, 1912

Credits: Tapio Riikonen

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK

KAPINALLINEN LO TA ***
KAPINALLINEN LO TA

Koomillinen kiinalainen seikkailuromaani

Kirj.

SHI NAI NGAN

Suomentanut

Reino Silvanto

Helsingissä, Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava, 1912.

SISÄLLYS:

Shi Nai Ngan.

Wei Tshou'ssa.
Lo Ta rupee munkiksi.
Lo Ta rikkoo munkkivalansa.
Lo Ta voittaa rosvopäällikön uudella tavalla.
Lo Ta opettaa omalla tavallaan.
Lo Ta rupeaa vihannestarhan vartiaksis.
Lo Ta auttaa erään ystävänsä pulasta.
Loppusananen: Lo Tan myöhemmistä vaiheista.

Shi Nai Ngan

Shi Nai Ngan on kiinalainen kirjailija, joka on kirjottanut laajan, 70-

lukuisen, koko joukon toista sataa eri juonta käsittävän humoristisen
romaanin nimeltä »Tarinoita virran varrelta». Niissä tekijä kuvaa
aikansa rauhatonta elämää kotimaassaan 12:nnen vuosisadan
tienoilla (meidän ajanlaskumme mukaan), jolloin Kiina kulki
perikatoaan kohti joutuen sittemmin mongolien vallan alle. Joskin
seikkailujen paljous tekee teoksen rakenteen hajanaiseksi, pitää
esitys käänteineen ja hullunkurisuuksineen lukijan vireillä antaen
samalla jotakuinkin selvän kuvan silloisten kiinalaisten tavoista ja
luonteista. Tämä ensimäinen ja paras koomillinen kiinalainen
romaani on kotimaassaan tullut mielikirjaksi.

Tähän mukaillen suomennettu osa ulottuu romaanin toisen luvun

keskivaiheilta kuudennen keskivaiheille käsittäen kohtia parista
seuraavastakin, mikäli ne koskevat kertomuksen päähenkilöä. —
Tekijästä itsestään ei jälkimaailma tunne muuta kuin nimen.

Wei Tshou'ssa.

[Keisari Hui Tsung'in hallitessa (1101—25 j.Kr.) oli Kiinan väestö

pakotettu väkivallalla puolustautumaan hallituksen väkivaltaisuuksilta
ja sen lahjottujen virkamiesten vääryyksiltä. Näin ollen johtui kansa
pitämään ruumiillista voimaa ja hurjaa rohkeutta usein suuremmassa
arvossa kuin henkistä etevyyttä. Hallitukseen tyytymätöntä
kapinoivaa väestöä kokoontui useihin paikkoihin, m.m. juuri Wei
Tshou'n kaupunkiin luoteis-Kiinassa,]

Eräänä päivänä — se tapahtui keisari Hui Tsung'in aikana —

saapui muuan pakolainen Wei Tshou'n kaupunkiin etsimään vanhaa
tuttavaansa, jolta useita vuosia sitten oli saanut monta hyvää neuvoa
nuijan käyttämisessä. Hän poikkesi ohi mennessään teetarjoiluun
virkistääkseen itseään ja kysyäkseen samalla tuota tuttavaansa.
Palvelija pyysi häntä kääntymään erään pitkän ja rotevan miehen
puoleen, joka samassa astui sisään.

Tulijan ryhti oli sotilaallinen, ja hänen yllään oli niinestä punottu

hattu, tummanvihreä sotilasnuttu ja keltaiset jalkineet. Nenä oli
suora, poimut suupielissä muodostivat nelikulmion ja kankea,
pikimusta parta lisäsi hänen sotaista olemustaan. Olipa hän lähes
kahdeksan jalkaa pitkä ja muuten hänen vartalonsa oli
sopusuhtainen pituuteen.

Kun tämä teräksinen mies oli astunut teetarjoiluun, lisäsi palvelija

kysyvälle:

— Jos te etsitte miekka- ja nuijamestari Wang Tsun'ia, on paras

kysyä tuolta sotapäälliköltä. Hän tietää varmaan.

Shi Tsun — se oli Wang Tsunia etsivän nimi — hypähti seisomaan,

kumarsi sotapäällikölle ja kysyi:

— Suokaa anteeksi, etteköhän joisi teetä kanssani?

 Sotapäällikkö silmäili Shi Tsunia, joka oli melkein yhtä suuri ja
voimakas kuin hänkin, astui sitten lähemmäksi ja kumarsi
vastaukseksi. He istuutuivat ja Shi Tsun jatkoi:

— Teidän nöyrä palvelijanne rohkenee kysyä teidän suku- ja

ristimänimeänne.

Tähän toinen vastasi:

— Minä olen kapteeni kaupunginpäällikön vartioväessä,

sukunimeni on Lo ja ristimänimeni Ta. Entä teidän nimenne, hyvä
ystäväni?

— Minä olen syntynyt Hwa Jin Hienossa, — vastasi toinen, — ja

nimeltäni Shi Tsun. Tiedättekö ehkä sattumalta, asuuko eräs entinen
opettajani nimeltä Wang Tsun nykyään täällä? Hän oli aikanaan
paras nuijataistelija itäisessä pääkaupungissa Hai Fungissa.

— Hyvä veli, — vastasi Lo Ta, — ettekö te ole juuri se mies, jota

kutsutaan nimeltä »yhdeksänjuovainen lohikäärme Shi»?

Shi Tsun kumarsi ja virkkoi:

— Teidän nöyrin palvelijanne, minua kutsutaan sillä nimellä.

Kapteeni Lo vastasi iloisesti kumarrukseen ja lisäsi koiruuttaan:

— Teidän muotonne vaikuttaa paremmin kuin nimenne! Minua

ilahuttaa suuresti saada tavata teidät. Te etsitte siis muuatta
Wangia? Tarkotatteko sitä, joka oli tekemisissä kenraali Ko'n
kanssa?

— Sama mies.
 — Minä olen kyllä kuullut puhuttavan hänestä, veli hyvä, — puheli
Lo Ta, — mutta hän ei asu nykyään täällä. Hän on, mikäli muistan,
enimmäkseen ollut meidän entisen kaupunginpäällikkömme
seurassa Jen Ngan Fu'ssa. Te olette siis se kuuluisa mestari Shi,
jota niin usein olen kuullut ylistettävän! Lähtekäähän kanssani
muualle maistamaan jalompaa juomaa!

Niin vei Lo Ta hänet teetarjoilusta, kääntyen vielä lähtiessään

ympäri sanoen: »Kyllä minä maksan toiste kaikki», mihin palvelija
vastasi: »Hyvä on, herra kapteeni.»

He olivat ennättäneet tuskin sadan askeleen päähän

lähtöpaikasta, kun huomasivat väkijoukon tungeskelevan kadulla
jonkun huvittavan esineen tai näytelmän ympärillä. Shi Tsun arveli:

— Emmekö katso ohi mennessämme, mitä siellä on?

Kun he olivat tunkeutuneet väkijoukon läpi, he näkivät miehen

seisovan sen keskellä nuija kädessä ja hänen edessään maahan
levitettynä kaikellaisia lääkepulloja nimikirjoituksineen.

Se oli vanha nuijataistelija ja puoskari nimeltä Li Tshung, jolta

Shi Tsun oli saanut alkuopetuksensa. Hänen »taiteilijanimensä» oli
»Tiikerinsurma».

Shi Tsun astui lähemmäksi, tervehti ja sanoi:

— Opettajani, enpä ole nähnyt teitä pitkään aikaan.

— Kuinka te olette tänne joutunut? — kysyi Li Tshung.

Mutta Lo Ta keskeytti heidän keskustelunsa sanoen Shi Tsunille:

 — Koska tämä herra on teidän entinen opettajanne, niin tulkoon
mukaan, silloinhan saamme kolmen kesken tyhjentää lasit.

Li Tshung vastasi: — Ensin minun täytyy myydä rohdot, mutta

sitten lähden mielelläni seuraanne, herra kapteeni.

Mutta Lo Ta selitti: — Piru teitä odottakoon! Jos tahdotte tehdä

seuraa, niin lähtekää heti!

Li Tshung epäsi yhä: — Tässä on minun jokapäiväinen leipäni

kysymyksessä, ja sen tähden olen pakotettu viipymään. Mutta olkaa
hyvä ja menkää edellä, minä tulen varmasti jälessä niin pian kuin
mahdollista.

Mutta Lo Ta, jota viivytys suututti, jakeli töllistävälle väkijoukolle

iskuja ja puusteja huutaen.

— Menkää hiiteen siitä!…

Ihmiset pakenivat joka suunnalle, eivätkä ajatelleetkaan enää

ostaa rohtoja. Tämä ei tietenkään ollut Li Tshungin mieleen, mutta
hän ei kuitenkaan uskaltanut ilmaista mielipahaansa, vaan virkkoi
hymyillen:

— Te näytte olevan kiivas herra!

Sen sanottuaan hän kokosi tavaransa ja he lähtivät kolmisin

liikkeelle. Muutaman kadunkulmauksen kierrettyään he saapuivat
kaupungin sillan alla sijaitsevaan juomalaan, jonka edustalla oli
merkkinä pitkä masto lippuineen.

He laskeutuivat alas portaita pitkin, etsivät rauhaisan huoneen ja

istuutuivat. Kapteeni asettui pöydän ylipäähän, Li Tshung vastapäätä
häntä ja Shi Tsun toiselle sivustalle. Juomalan palvelija tervehti
kapteenia kuin vanhaa vierasta ainakin ja lisäsi:

— Paljonko rommia käskette, herra kapteeni?

— Aluksi puoli mittaa, — vastasi tämä. — Mutta me tahtoisimme

myös syödä vähäsen.

— Mitä syötävää käskette tuomaan, herra kapteeni?

— Älkää nyt siinä iankaikkisesti kysykö, — huusi Lo Ta, — vaan

tuokaa, mitä on valmista. Nuo kapakan palvelijat eivät tosiaan osaa
hetkeäkään kuonoansa kiinni pitää!

Palvelija katosi nopeasti ja toi tuossa tuokiossa lämmintä rommia.

Yhtä pian tuli lihaa ynnä muuta haukattavaa.

He kävivät halukkaasti käsiksi ateriaan ja juttelivat sitten lasin

ääressä kaikellaisista ammattiasioista, nyrkkeilystä, ruumiinvoimista,
miekkailuviekkaudesta ynnä muusta sellaisesta. He olivat jo sekä
keskustelusta että juomasta lämmenneet aika lailla, kun yhtäkkiä
kuulivat viereisestä huoneesta parkua. Lo Ta hypähti ylös ja iski
suurella nyrkillään niin lujasti pöytään, että lautaset ja lasit lattialle
lensivät ja siellä ympäri kiiriskelivät.

Kun palvelija kuuli tämän rytäkän, hän syöksyi sisään, ja

huomattuaan
Lo Tan suuttumuksen pani käsivartensa ristiin kysyen nöyrästi:

— Teidän armonne, mitä suvaitsette käskeä? Sana vain ja

tahtonne on täyttyvä.
 — Vai mitäkö tahdon? — huusi Lo Ta. — Mitä se sellainen on, että
sinä tuot viereiseen huoneeseen liikuttajia ja siten meitä häiritset?

— Pyydän tuhannesti anteeksi, armolliset herrat, — vastasi

palvelija. — Kuinka minä uskaltaisin tuoda ketään teitä
häiritsemään? Siellä on eräs vanha ukko tyttärensä kanssa, jotka
maksusta laulavat ihmisille. He eivät varmaankaan tienneet, että
armolliset herrat ovat täällä, ja itkevät onnettomuutta, joka heitä on
kohdannut.

— Tämä herättää uteliaisuuteni, — sanoi kapteeni. — Mene

tuomaan heidät tänne.

Palvelija riensi ulos ja palasi kohta kaksi poloista mukanaan. Tyttö,

joka ensimmäisenä astui sisään, näytti olevan lähes
kaksikymmentävuotias, ukko, jolla oli nuoraan punottuja puisia
kalistimia kädessä, noin viiden- kuudenkymmenen ikäinen. Tyttö ei
ollut kaunis, mutta hänen kasvojensa piirteissä oli jotakin
viehättävää, etenkin nyt, kun hän kyyneleitään kuivaten astui
lähemmäksi ja tervehti seuraavilla sanoilla:

— Minä toivotan teille kaikille kolmelle oikein paljon onnea!

Ukko tervehti samaan tapaan.

Silloin kysyi Lo Ta:

— Mistä te tulette ja mitä itkette?

— Hyvä herra, — vastasi tyttö, — sitä ette saata arvatakaan.

Olkaa hyvä ja kuunnelkaa, mitä kerron. Olen syntynyt Hai Fung’issa.
Vanhempieni kanssa tulin tänne tervehtimään muutamia sukulaisia,
mutta nämä ovatkin muuttaneet Nan King’iin. Majapaikassa äitini
sairastui ja kuoli. Eipä ollut meillä, isällä ja minulla, muuta neuvoa
kuin etsiä elatuksemme täältä. Mutta silloin eräs rikas mies nimeltä
Tshing, joka on pitänyt minua hiukan silmällä, lähetti naittajan
kysymään minulta, enkö tahtoisi suostua hänen toiseksi vaimokseen.
[Kiinalaisella miehellä on oikeus pitää useampia vaimoja, joista
ensimäinen on kuitenkin hänen varsinainen puolisonsa, toiset
sivuvaimoja, jotka tavallisesti ovat palvelijan asemassa. Avioliitot
solmitaan naittajan välityksellä.] Tehtiin kolmentuhannen kashi-
rihman (n. 1575 Smk:an) suuruinen sopimus. [Sulhanen suorittaa
apelle morsiamesta määrätyn summan, jonka hän saa takaisin, kun
lähettää vaimon pois tämän entiseen kotiin. — Kash on pienin Kiinan
kuparirahoista (noin 1/5 penniä), jossa on reikä rihmaan ripustamista
varten.] Mutta rahoja ei koskaan maksettu, vaikka minä olin
muuttanut miehen luo. Ei ollut vielä kolmea kuukautta umpeen
kulunut, kun hänen ensimäinen vaimonsa, joka on kauhea ihminen,
ajoi minut talosta. Vaatipa Tshing isältäni tuon sopimuksessa
määrätyn rahasumman takaisin. Mutta isäni oli voimaton ja
kykenemätön käymään oikeutta niin rahakkaan ja vaikutusvaltaisen
miehen kanssa. Täytyi siis keksiä ja koettaa keinoa koota rahoja, niin
vaikeata kuin se olikin. Kaikeksi onneksi olin isältäni oppinut lauluja
ja ajattelimme suurimmassa hädässä laulaa sen majatalon vieraille,
jonne olimme joutuneet, siten ansaitaksemme. Mutta majatalon
isäntä alkoi kiskoa meiltä yhä suurempaa vuokraa, niin että meille
lopulta jäi rahaa tuskin jokapäiväiseen leipään. Mutta nyt viime
päivinä on ollut niin vähän vieraita, että pelkäämme isännän tekevän
meille pahaa, kun emme voi maksaa hänelle vuokraa. Isäni ja minä
ajattelimme juuri epätoivoista tilaamme, ja kun meillä ei ole täällä
ainoaakaan tuttavaa, jonka puoleen voisimme apua pyytäen
kääntyä, niin en voinut olla itkemättä. Minä en tiennyt, hyvä herra,
että häiritsin teitä, ja pyydän nöyrimmästi anteeksi.
 Lo Ta ajatteli hetken ja kysyi:

— Mikä on nimenne ja missä majapaikassa asutte? Kuka on tuo

Tshing ja missä hän asuu?

Tytön isä vastasi:

— Sukunimeni on Kin ja koska olin toinen järjestyksessä

sisaruksista, sain ristimänimen Ji (= toinen). Tyttäreni nimi on Tsui
Lien. Ja tuo herra Tshing on lihakauppias, joka on ottanut arvonimen
»läntisen rajan suojelija». Mutta majatalo, jossa me asumme,
sijaitsee lähellä kaupungin itäistä porttia.

— Piru vieköön, — huudahti Lo Ta, — arvasinhan minä, että tuo

Tshing on juuri se sikakauppias! Sama mies avasi meidän nuoren
kaupunginpäällikkömme suojeluksella kauppansa ja tällä lailla hän
nyt kiusaa ihmisiä!

Sitten hän kääntyi naapuriensa puoleen sanoen:

— Jääkää te molemmat toistaiseksi tänne. Minä menen vähäksi

aikaa pois kurittaakseni sitä lurjusta ja opettaakseni häntä olemaan
ihmisiksi.

Mutta Shi ja Li pidättivät häntä selittäen:

— Hyvä ystävämme, rauhottukaa toki! Voittehan järjestää asian

mielenne mukaan hätäilemättäkin.

Vaikka olikin vaikeata, niin saivat he hänet kuitenkin jäämään.

Sitten kääntyi Lo Ta vanhuksen puoleen sanoen:
 — Tulkaapas tänne, vanha poika, niin annan teille sen verran, että
pääsette huomenna lähtemään Hai Fung'iin takaisin. Mitä siitä
arvelette?

Isä ja tytär selittivät, etteivät saattaneet toivoakaan mitään

parempaa kuin päästä kotiin jälleen, ja jos hän vain sen ilon heille
suo, niin tulevat he kunnioittamaan häntä toisena isänä. Mutta
kuinka päästäisi majatalon isäntä heitä lähtemään, kun Tshing on
käskenyt häntä pitämään heistä tarkkaa vaaria?

Mutta Lo Ta virkkoi:

— Kyllä minä pidän siitä huolen.

Sitten hän pisti kätensä taskuun, otti sieltä viisi taelia [1 tael =
37,57 gr hopeata] hopeata (noin 7 1/2 Smk) ja pani ne pöydälle. Sen
tehtyään hän katsahti Shi Tsuniin ja virkkoi:

— Minulla ei satu olemaan enempää rahaa myötä. Jos teillä on

hopeata, niin lainatkaa minulle. Minä annan teille huomenna takaisin.

— Takaisinmaksusta ei puhettakaan, hyvä ystäväni, — vastasi Shi

Tsun ja pani rahapussistaan kymmenen taelia pöydälle.

Nyt Lo Ta kääntyi Li Tshungin puoleen:

— Kai tekin lainaatte minulle vähäsen?

Li Tshung kopeloi laskujaan ja pani vihdoin kaksi taelia pöydälle.

Lo Ta katseli niitä, mutta kun se oli hänen mielestään kovin vähän,
niin virkkoi:

— Te olette, Jumala paratkoon, köyhä kuin pakana.

 Ja hän otti pöydältä viisitoista taelia ja ojensi ne Kin-vanhukselle
sanoen:

— Menkää nyt tyttärenne kanssa ja laittakaa itsenne

matkakuntoon, kunnes minä huomenna tulen noutamaan teitä.

Vanha Kin ja hänen tyttärensä kiittivät sydämellisesti häntä ja

lähtivät. Lo Ta antoi nuo kaksi taelia Li Tshungille takaisin ja he
maistelivat kolmisin vielä jonkun aikaa. Sitten he lähtivät nousemaan
portaita ylös. Mutta Lo Ta kääntyi mennessään ympäri ja sanoi
palvelijalle maksavansa huomenna.

Tämä vastasi:

— Te olette aina tervetullut, herra kapteeni. Jota useammin suotte

meille sen kunnian, sitä parempi.

Kun nuo kolme olivat tulleet kadulle, he erosivat. Shi ja Li lähtivät

majapaikkoihinsa ja Lo Ta kotiinsa, joka sijaitsi lähellä
kaupunginpäällikön asuntoa. Mutta hän kuului olleen syömättä
illallistaan ja menneen levolle mitä huonoimmalla tuulella, niin ettei
edes isännöitsijänsä uskaltanut kysyä syytä siihen peläten sillä vain
pahentavansa asiaa.

Mutta vanha Kin palasi majapaikkaansa taskussaan viisitoista

taelia, sillä välin kun tyttärensä meni kaupungin portille tilaamaan
huomiseksi ajurin. Yhdessä he sitten laittoivat tavaransa
matkakuntoon, maksoivat majatalon isännälle asunnon ja ruuan, niin
että kaikki oli selvillä seuraavaksi päiväksi.

Yö kului rauhallisesti, ja viidennen vartion aikana (k:lo 7—9

aamulla) nousivat vanha Kin ja hänen tyttärensä levolta, tekivät
tulen, valmistivat aamiaisen, söivät sen ja tekivät sitten lähtöä. Juuri
silloin, päivän valjetessa, saapui kapteeni Lo Ta majataloon ja huusi
vartialle:

— Missä täällä isä Kin asuu?

Vartia ilmotti Kinille kapteeni Lon tahtovan tavata häntä.

Kun vanha Kin kuuli tämän, hän avasi oven ja pyysi:

— Herra kapteeni, olkaa hyvä ja käykää sisään hetkeksi istumaan.

Mutta Lo Ta selitti:

— Miksikä istumaan? Jos tahdotte lähteä matkalle, niin lähtekää!

Mitä te vielä odotatte?

Vanha Kin otti tavaransa ja tyttärensä, kiitti kapteenia ja kääntyi

lähtemään. Mutta majatalon vartia pidätti hänet sanoen:

— Isä Kin, mihin te nyt?

Silloin kysyi Lo Ta vartialta:

— Onko hän vielä velkaa taloon?

— Ei, vastasi palvelija, — hän maksoi kyllä eilen illalla, mitä oli
velkaa. Mutta hän ei ole vielä maksanut herra Tshingille takaisin
tyttärensä naimarahoja, joista meidän pitää vastata.

— Minä maksan itse lihakauppiaalle, — sanoi Lo Ta, — ja te

annatte tämän miehen nyt lähteä.
 Mutta kun vartia yhä esteli, niin Lo Ta suuttui, kohotti raskaan
kätensä ja sivalsi palvelijaa korvalle niin tuimasti, että tämän nenästä
verta valahti, ja iski sitten vielä naamaan, että suusta lensi kaksi
hammasta. Vartia kaatui maahan, mutta pääsi kohta jaloilleen ja
pakeni taloon turvaa etsien. Talon isäntä näki kohtauksen, mutta ei
uskaltanut sekaantua asiaan.

Sillä välin riensi vanha Kin tyttärensä kanssa kaupungista. He

löysivät ajurin, jonka olivat edellisenä iltana tilanneet, ja läksivät sillä
matkaan.

Mutta Lo Ta harkitsi, että heidät voitaisiin vielä tavottaa ja pidättää,

ja sentähden hän kääntyi takaisin majataloon ja istui siellä niin
kauan, että tiesi vanhan Kinin ehtineen tarpeeksi etäälle. Sitten hän
nousi ja läksi lihakauppias Tshingin luo.

Tämä oli jo avannut puotinsa ja levittänyt runsaasti tavaroitaan

ostajain katseltaviksi. Hän oli itse läsnä, istui maksupöydän takana
oveen katsoen palvelijoittensa puuhatessa hänen ympärillään ja
myödessä ostajille sianlihaa.

Silloin astui Lo Ta ovelle ja huusi:

— Sikakauppias Tshing, hoi!

Kun Tshing huomasi, että tuo epäkohtelias kauppatuttava oli

kapteeni Lo Ta, hän riensi esiin pöytänsä takaa ja käski palvelijan
tuoda kapteenille tuolin pyydellen ja kumarrellen vähän väliä.

Lo Ta istuutui ja sanoi:

— Tuon kaupunginpäälliköltä tilauksen: kymmenen naulaa

sianlihaa, hienoksi hakattua ja ilman vähintäkään silavaa.
 Lihakauppias käski palvelijansa mitä pikimmin etsiä parasta lihaa.

— En tahdo, — ärähti Lo Ta, — että palvelijat kajoovat lihaan.

Hakatkaa itse se hienoksi.

— Kuten käskette, — vastasi Tshing, — palvelijanne tottelee.

Näin sanoen hän astui liharuhmun luo, valitsi kymmenen naulaa

puhdasta sianlihaa, hienonsi sen ja pyöritteli palloiksi.

Sillä välin oli majatalon vartia sitonut vaatteen päänsä ympäri ja

rientänyt lihakauppias Tshingin luo ilmottamaan vanhan Kinin ja
tämän tyttären lähdöstä. Mutta kun hän näki Lo Tan istuvan Tshingin
puodissa, hän ei uskaltanut astua sisään, vaan asettui turvallisen
matkan päähän räystään alle, mistä teki huomioitaan.

Kokonaisen tunnin oli Tshing valmistanut lihapalloja, ja kun ne nyt

vihdoin olivat valmiit, hän kääri ne lotos-kukan lehteen ja virkkoi:

— Herra kapteeni, minä lähetän palvelijan tuomaan tämän kotiin.

— Miksi niin? — murahti Lo Ta. — Kyllä me vielä ehdimme!…

Minä tarvitsen vielä kymmenen naulaa hienoksi hakattua silavaa
ilman vähintäkään lihaa.

Lihakauppias rohkeni lausua arvelunsa, että liha oli luultavasti

piirakoita varten. — Mutta, — jatkoi hän, — mihin te tarvitsette
hienonnettua silavaa?

Lo Ta aukaisi silmänsä niin suuriksi kuin sai, katsoi tuimasti

lihakauppiaaseen ja sanoi:
 — Niin kuuluu käsky, jonka nuori päällikkömme antoi. Pitääkö
teidän sitä vielä harkita?

— Ei suinkaan, — vastasi Tshing. — Te olette aivan oikeassa!

Ainahan silavaa tarvitaan. Minä hienonnan sitä heti.

Ja hän valitsi kymmenen naulaa silkkoisinta silavaa, hienonsi ja

kääri sen, kuten lihankin.

Näin oli kaksi tuntia kulunut ja aamiaisaika vallan ohi. Mutta

majatalon vartia seisoi yhä vaan ulkona ja hänen kanssaan joukko
ostajia, jotka eivät uskaltaneet käydä puotiin sisään.

Lihakauppias sanoi taas:

— Sallikaa, herra kapteeni, minun lähettää palvelija tuomaan

tavarat kaupunginpäällikön asuntoon.

Mutta Lo Ta vastasi:

— Minä tarvitsen vielä kymmenen naulaa rustoa, hyvin hienoksi

hakattua ja ilman vähintäkään lihaa tai silavaa.

Tämän käskyn kuultuaan Tshing ei voinut olla hymähtämättä. Ja

hän virkkoi:

— Te olette kaikesta päättäen tullut tänne minun aikaani

tuhlaamaan.

Kun Lo Ta kuuli nämä sanat, hän huusi:

— Sitä varten, tietysti!