Old Photos. Issue 8

Author: Compiled by the Press
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-11-01
Features: The content of this book: As night fades and dawn breaks, the tinkling camel bells echo through the dissipating mist. Rows of camels loaded with various goods trudge steadily toward the capital, stepping over the snow (Figure 1, Figure 2). More than half a century ago, this was a common sight in Beijing. Beijing originally had no naturally occurring camels. The use of camels for transportation in Beijing began during the Yuan Dynasty. In the 13th century, the Mongol Khagan Kublai Khan built the Yuan Dynasty capital, initially with a population of 400,000 to 500,000 military and civilian residents, which later grew to over a million. To meet the daily needs of the military and civilians, camels, which were familiar and favored by the Mongol rulers, naturally became the preferred choice for transporting goods. By the Ming Dynasty, camel transportation in Beijing had nearly disappeared. In the Qing Dynasty, camels once again became common in Beijing. At that time, when Mongol people paid tribute to the Qing government or came to Beijing for business, they transported goods or tribute to Huangsi in the north of the capital or to the Wai Guan area using camels capable of enduring long journeys. They would at these locations, sometimes even selling excess camels on the spot. The Qing government also set up official stations to raise camels at Yuhetiao Bridge, outside Dongzhimen, and at Zhangjiawan in Tongzhou. However, the camels of the "camel households" in the capital were mostly brought from or purchased at the camel market outside Zhangjiakou. At that time, many "camel households" who made a living by raising camels and transporting goods could be found in areas such as Shijingshan and Mentougou in the western suburbs of Beijing, and Liangxiang and Dahongmen in the southern suburbs. After the establishment of the Republic of China, although highways and horse-drawn carriages began to appear, camel transportation remained very common until the early 1930s, when it significantly decreased. This was due to two reasons: first, after the government moved south, the demand in the city greatly decreased; second, transportation gradually improved, with railways appearing in the suburbs and convenient and fast rubber-wheeled carriages becoming more prevalent. Later, trucks also appeared for goods transportation. Camel transportation gradually declined, but a small number of camel teams still delivered coal to the city. After Beijing was liberated in 1949, camels were no longer allowed to enter the city, and this mode of transportation gradually disappeared.