Chicken bus: "Shu Road is difficult, it is difficult to go to Qingtian" Once closed traffic and the gifts of Tianfu let Sichuan people live a paradise-like life.
The chicken bus is the most important means of transportation in ancient Sichuan, and it is also the most important invention of ancient Sichuan.
01 The name of the chicken bus
There are probably two theories about the origin of the name "chicken bus".
One is voice saying. The chicken bus was originally made entirely of wood, and when the axle rubbed against the load-bearing seat, it would make a "clucking" sound, which sounded like a rooster from a distance.
"The trolley does not fall down, just pushes", showing the Chinese nation's character of unremitting self-improvement and hard-working.
One is the appearance theory. The wheels of the rooster car are raised high, like a lofty crown; the sturdy wooden frame is spread to the sides like chicken wings; and the two wooden handles in the back, lifted by the cartman and placed next to the crotch, like a flaunted chicken tail.
Together with the tea house, Sichuan opera, Shu Jin, Cuizhu and Hibiscus flowers, the chicken bus forms a cultural magnetic field that feeds generations of Chengdu people.
Someone recalled: in the autumn to pay public grain, the grain station at the entrance of the queue, you a load, he a car, at that time there was no two-wheeled scooter, everyone pushed the car is this kind of wheeled chicken bus, a car tow three or four cartons, the road is slightly farther, two people take turns to push, uphill when one person in front of the pull, downhill is reversed to the back of the top or two people dragged slowly forward.
The person who pushes the chicken bus is called the chicken. Most of the surplus labor force in the countryside when the farmers are idle, most of them gather in the traffic arteries with their own chicken buses and shout at the solicitations. At the end of the day, the foot plate in the straw shoes was grinding blood, and the palm of the hand holding the handlebar was blistered, and only three or five poor copper plates were earned. However, it is such a livelihood, because of the compulsion of life, it is also fiercely competitive.
Excerpt from: Chengdu Fangzhi "From Chicken Bus to Shared Bicycle, Look at the Evolution history of Public Transportation in Chengdu in 70 Years"
In 1909, the chicken bus in Western Sichuan
02 The history of the chicken bus
The chicken bus has a history of thousands of years, and in a tomb mural in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, dating back to 118 AD, it is found that there are paintings of people pushing the chicken bus.
But who was the first creator of the chicken bus? People usually think of Zhuge Liang, the Shu state minister during the Three Kingdoms period.
In 1909, a chicken bus on the outskirts of Chengdu
In the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms written by the Western Jin Dynasty historian Chen Shou, there is a text that reads, "Wooden cows and horses, all unexpected". According to expert research, the "wooden cow flowing horse" is also a chicken bus. Gao Cheng's "Chronicle of Things" in the Song Dynasty also attributed the credit for making chicken buses to Zhuge Liang.
Pei Songzhi recorded the design of the wooden cow flowing horse in the Notes on the Three Kingdoms, with a separate large central wheel and a shaft around the wooden bracket representing the cow.
It is said that when Zhuge Liang was cutting down Wei, in order to ensure the supply of grain and grass for the army, he invented a chicken bus suitable for long-distance trekking on rugged mountain roads and transporting supplies.
Because the chicken bus is a unicycle landing, the trail can be unimpeded regardless of the plains and mountains. Relying on them, the grain produced in the Chengdu Plain was able to continuously cross the majestic Qinling Mountains.
In 1909, a chicken bus on the outskirts of Chengdu. A wooden wheel, two handrails, and a rope with shoulders supported the long years and carried a heavy life.
After the invention of the chicken bus, after several major changes, it eventually became an important invention in the history of human transportation.
The first change: the Song Dynasty, changing one person to promote the frame for the front and back of the two people, two people on both sides of the abduction, the front with a donkey pull, called "string car".
The second change: the Ming Dynasty, on the basis of the "string of cars", added arched seats as the top, used to solicit customers, called "double-reaming unicycle".
The third revolution: the Qing Dynasty, the addition of sails, the clever use of wind power.
The English poet John F. Kennedy In Paradise Lost in 1665, John Milton wrote the verse "Chinese use sails to drive a light rattan car."
In the early years of the Republic of China, he took a foreigner on a chicken bus in Chengdu
Later, the chicken bus crossed the mountains and mountains, and eventually spread to the Central Plains, but it was renamed "unicycle". In the Huaihai Campaign of the Liberation War, the "chicken bus" continuously transported grain, grass, and heavy loads to the front.
Marshal Chen Yi once said that the Battle of Huaihai was pushed out by the people of Shandong with a trolley, and the trolley here refers to the "chicken bus."
The "customer dual-use" function of Sichuan Chicken Bus
In 1917, on the outskirts of Chengdu, there was a chicken bus with a parasol
In 1909, the old man in the chicken bus in Western Sichuan
03 Chicken bus and "second handle"
The "scientific and technological content" of the chicken bus is very high, and the resistance point of the load is close to the fulcrum (that is, the wheel) using the principle of leverage, that is, the weight of the load is shared on the unicycle and the operator. Between the handlebars, hang a "car trip", put on the shoulder when driving, and hold the handlebar in both hands to help it.
In 1917, the American photographer Sidney Gamble took a chicken bus on the northern outskirts of Chengdu.
After the Song Dynasty, the chicken bus was generally pushed forward by one person and pulled forward by one person. In particular, large unicycles used to transport goods have double handles in front and rear, pulling forward and pushing backwards, called "second handles".
Evolving to the present, the "second-in-command" has become the second-in-command in a region or unit that is "under one person and above everyone", second only to the "first-in-command".
In 1917, Dujiangyan's chicken bus, can you tell which one is the "first hand" and which one is the "second hand"?
In 1917, a chicken bus under the city of Dujiangyan
With the development of the times, the chicken bus has long since withdrawn from the historical stage, and now even the children in the countryside do not know what the chicken bus is. However, the distant chicken bus... That thing, that person, and the emotions wrapped around people and things have become the epitome of the times that no one can erase.
According to incomplete statistics, by 1956 there were still more than 500,000 chicken buses in Sichuan. Pictured: In 1941, Chengdu Longquanyi, repairing a chicken bus.
Conclusion:
The chicken bus, in the long river of history, although it is full of twilight, it has been moving forward courageously, and it is the "clucking" sound of that sound that witnesses the thousand-year life of the industrious Sichuan people.
In 1913, industrious Sichuan people pushing chicken buses on the outskirts of Chengdu