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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 5 page paper discusses the impact of the mass transportation system into Beijing in the 1920's. Economic, social and political ramifications are show and exampled from the text of David Strand's book, Rickshaw Beijing. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_MBstrand.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
Strands book, Rickshaw Beijing. Strand sets out to dispel the idea that the perception by most of the world, including China, of Beijings conservative and backward metropolis was far from
correct. In fact, the trolley system which was introduced held major implications for Beijings development in many areas, including economically, socially and politically. Basically, what happened, according to Strand, was
that Beijing wore a carefully constructed mask. This mask gave the illusion that Beijing was the old imperial bastion into which no modern convenience would ever take hold. Beijing, "with
its cosmologically dictated ceremonial and administrative architecture, congested commercial districts, and flat expanses of courtyard residences... Beijing in the 1920s, as a human and physical entity, clearly preserved the past
and accommodated the present."1 In other words, the mask was a good one. This may have been in a very large part, and Strand seems to support the idea, that
the streetcar systems were extremely efficient in comparison to other cities. What makes Stands ideas most credible is that he does not profile the high politicians and those whose interest
it would serve to place the city in a good light, but instead profiled the common man, the rickshaw drivers, the barbers, the ordinary citizen and showed how over
time these individuals and their groups began to organize to the point where they became politically active and engaged in the social reforms of the day and age. And, at
its very heart, the transportation system was the means and method of transporting these groups into similar areas where ideas could be shared across greater distances. But the streetcar did
not replaced, Strand notes, the rickshaw driver who was the backbone of the economy, it could be said. Strand states that nearly one in six men were rickshaw pullers.2 In
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