From Sedan Chair to Bicycle to Benz

Chinese want cars. Lots of them. More than 1,000 new cars hit the streets of Beijing every day.

A lot of those cars are compact cars – designed with the average Chinese consumer in mind. After all, the average Chinese car buyer is looking for an engine-powered vehicle to replace his bicycle or the tyranny of the crowded bus.

But some people in this country, where many still struggle on the poverty line, have rather bigger budgets.

Take the police, for example.

For a moment this week I thought it might be time to reconsider my profession. For there, parked on a street near my home was a car that looked a lot like this.

I was not surprised to see that the vehicle was easily identifiable by its number plate. The plate was white, indicating that it was a military vehicle. The first two letters were WJ in red, standing for “wujing” or People’s Armed Police. Here's a plate from a car of the Central Military Commission.

I could have wondered how the paramilitary police were 1. able to afford an automobile that can cost about 80,000 pounds and 2. how would a silver Mercedes coupe enable them to better perform their duties of protecting state leaders and major government buildings. And then I remembered a recent article I wrote, which contained some numbers of a breathtaking nature.

A car is a status symbol in China. Just as it is elsewhere. But this is a country whose culture is founded on the idea of “face”. Giving “face”, keeping “face”, or – heaven forbid – losing “face.”

Modern-day mandarins, it would seem, care as much about face as did imperial officials who measured their importance by the number of sedan chair bearers they could command.

Comments

[Leo Dengia]

I was just wondering is there a contradiction between owning such a vehicle and performing their duties well.

[Chen Yongzi]

I commute by bicycle, 25kms everyday.I chat with other riders that my "car" is an an automatic one, consume 0 litre gasoline for 100 kms. It gives me a " shine face". Hope the other Bejing citizens join to Bike Renaissance.

[Mom]

Some of the police in San Francisco ride BMW motorcycles, and they are way coooooool!! It makes the police people happy, and the repair record is excellent.
The best car I ever had was a 1980 BMW, which still ran well until 2000, when it was stolen and wound up in Oklahoma! As far as I know, it is still going!! Now I am looking for a cushy lightweight bicycle, for my exercise. The only gas problem I have is mine!! Cheers!