The Shanghai Pedicab

Movies and TV shows about old Shanghai invariably thrown in images of richshaws and their pullers. They’re iconic of Chinese cities – and of course its literature – think Lao She’s Rickshaw Boy. Less commonly shown on screen but commonly referred to in memoirs are the old pedicabs of Shanghai. Pedicabs were definitely a step up from pulling a rickshaw and introduced to the Settlement in 1926, when they are first mentioned as being licensed in a Shanghai Municipal Council annual report. Pedicab numbers soared in the later 1930s as petrol restrictions due to the Japanese invasion made petrol taxis unaffordable.

Incidentally unlicensed pedicabs made somewhat of a comeback to Shanghai in 2010 as more and more people jostled for taxis (click here), but the new authorities of the city were less impressed….