Interview

            Liu Shuo Biao, a middle class worker, is currently retired often sits on his couch reading the daily news. Living in America, he looks back at the hard times of his challenging childhood. Born into a rich family at Guang Dong Province, he was forced to work on a farm when the Communist party took control of China. Thus, he reached up to a high school education. Working on a farm, Liu found it hard transporting a great amount of goods from one location to another in a short amount of time. In 1955, the three-wheeled cart was introduced to China providing a convenient way to farm. Other forms of transportation, like the donkey and bicycle, also helped Liu move around. Living in an area containing mountains, he frequently had to go down to Guang Zhou for supplies. Being that he couldn’t afford to buy a motorized vehicle, he was force to use other cheap forms of transportation.  Witnessing almost every vehicle put to action in China, he will talk a little about each type.     

Right now I will talk a little about my past experience with transportation devices. When I was young, my life was in the mountains. At that time we had to walk to the main city to buy supplies. I often need to walk three hours to the county center. If we had a great amount of luggage to bring back, we had to bring a single-wheeled cart, called the “gai gong che.” Rooster carts are very tiring; not like the simple and easy bicycle.

The first type was manpower, then they started using the donkeys and water buffaloes: using the animals to help people. 

Sometimes some people have donkeys, and then those people will take the donkey to carry the cargo. The donkeys are still present in the mountain areas to transport cargo.

Sometimes, for short distances, like the markets, some people use water buffalo. Water buffalo can hold cargo, too.

Basically bicycles are most convenient. I favor the bicycle. When I was a young, I saw some people use their bicycles from the main city to their homes. My family thought this was a new trend because bicycles are very convenient: it can go anywhere and fast. That’s why many people use the bicycle. Bicycles were a little more advanced, but it was expensive and rare at that time, not everyone could own his or her own bicycle. Bicycles are still common because it is presently cheaper and it’s very convenient…that way.

Liu Shuo Bio at a wedding reception  

Basically in the mountain area, we rarely see cars. Later the cars came in. Cars back then were undeveloped: the cars burned coal, not like right now burning the gasoline. Everyone couldn’t sit [afford] the vehicle.

My family sometimes does ride personal vehicles that can go from county center to big city, Guang Zhou. But motorized vehicles can’t travel everywhere; that is why only some big cities have motorized vehicles. Long ago, the motorized vehicles were mostly buses. The cars required a road to travel upon because the cars were slightly bigger. The cars many, many time couldn’t get to the mountains.

Right now it’s a little richer; the transportation equipment slowly develop in China. Fuel expectations are slightly high and more small cars are present. More and more roads are being constructed everywhere, so cars are more often seen. Right now, there are more small cars, passenger vehicles, and minivans. That is why sometimes we can ride the “taxi.” We call it the “dik se.” In the main cities there are the very luxuries sedans, including the European and American cars. The people, well, did like the new upgrade. 

Some cities even have trains. In the train section, the trains back then burned steam; I mean coal. They call it uh… some sort of train head in English, I forgot. After some time, trains started to burn diesel fuel. Right now, in some places there are the electric-powered trains, which means it goes very fast. So that is why [how] the transportation advances go step-by-step. Trains we [my family] occasionally ride on, but never on airplanes.

Over my whole young life I never rode on a plane. Right now I have heard that it is very open: everyone can go in one. The planes are also new, not like the old ones. Right now, people ride the “Boeing 747,” like in America.

In Guang Zhou, the big city, there are ships and boats occasionally. Because the boats there are very cheap, it’s very slow riding. Because it can hold a lot of people, we mostly ride on motorized boats.  Some people will at least ride this once, especially the new steamboats, the new “ocean boats.” The people can use that type of transportation to go on vacations. This is the big change that occurred.

Although there was a big change, many original transportation methods are still kept: the very earliest the donkey. Some even walk to their destination in the poor villages. Right now it helps in many ways. Not like the past, when the poor villagers couldn’t step away from their villages. Some old people spent their whole life in the poor villages; they would never come out. Some people never even went to the market cities, but in the present time there isn’t this type of situation. Transportation is very rich, so that is why you can say these transportation advances did benefit the Chinese people and its technology.  

That is why there are continuously more transportation methods introduced. There are a variety of methods; I can’t even talk about that amount. This is basically the situation now in China.

When I came to America, I could see most of America’s transportation, but some I couldn’t see only because of the degree is different. Like in America, every family can have their own automobile. This is a point that China can never have. The highways here are “cough” certainly rich. From the North to South, East to West, there are basically roads everywhere. So that is why transporting goods are more convenient.   Most people know how to operate a vehicle [in America], but in China you need a “special license.” Not everyone can have one and testing for this license is particularly difficult. It’s not like America; you can get the license very quick.

In China, a person may only ride the airplane once or never, but in America you can go on it every year for vacations. Like ships: it is not used as a form of transportation, but a form of relaxation. Like taking a ship to Alaska for a nice vacation trip. The luxury ship has already been part of American heritage.

So that is how I adapted to America’s lifestyle and to its transportation devices. I think this is societies’ development.