What kind of "car shops" were popular in Northeast China during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China?

Car shops probably appeared in Northeast China from the late Qing Dynasty to the 1970s. For a long time, it was the first choice for many people who were not very rich, just like the guest house in the 1980s. However, it is far less than a guest house. So, what kind of shop is it?

The rise of coach shops had a lot to do with the traffic at that time. Since the Qing dynasty opened the ban on the three northeastern provinces, there has been an upsurge of marching into the northeast. With the increase of population, the reclamation of agriculture and the development of commerce, although railway transportation has begun to appear, the main mode of transportation for ordinary people is camel pulling carts. A car with big wheels can't go far in a day. But the towns in the northeast are not close, so food and shelter on the road become a problem. The temperature in the northeast has been very low. If you spend the night outdoors, you are bound to freeze to death.

In addition, the northeast region is geographically remote. The late Qing government had no time to manage the Northeast. Therefore, there are many bandits and refugees in the northeast, and the public security is very chaotic. It's not safe to spend the night outside alone with a truckload of goods. Where there is demand, there is a market, and the coach shop came into being under such circumstances. Cart shops are all next to the main road, and there will be one about 40 kilometers away, instead of getting together. This arrangement is reasonable. Because of this distance, it is almost enough for a big wheeled car to walk for half a day.

It is more convenient to eat or stay in a hotel like this. At that time, people who ran big wheeled vehicles were all people with poor economy, and they paid attention to economic benefits. So the first cart shop was very simple, except for the big room, which was the big yard. The courtyard is used to tie horses and put cars, and the room is naturally inhabited. Generally, there is a big kang in the north and south, and each big kang can accommodate more than 20 people. On the ground between kang and kang, there are several long benches. There is also a washstand with two or three washbasins on it, and some pancreases (soap) and some towels will be prepared next to it. This is the furnishings in the room.

When you are not at home, you don't have to pay so much attention. It's enough to sleep on a hot kang. Although the coach shop can rent clothes (bedding), and the price is very cheap. But everyone is used to putting a big leather coat directly on his body and going to bed. The coach shop not only has a hot kang, but also provides simple food. For example, pancakes made of corn flour are spread out. There are vegetables, such as cabbage vermicelli soup and so on. Although the selectivity is not great, the focus is on interests. In this way, not everyone is willing to eat.

Some people take dry food with them, stay in the cart shop and ask the clerk to help them heat their meals. By the way, I poured a bowl of boiled water for free and barely sent a meal. It doesn't matter if it's a man, but what about a female guest? At first, there was no separation between men and women in the garage, and everyone slept on a big kang.

Because men and women are different, female guests will be arranged in the corner, with curtains and an extra urinal. Later, with the business of coach shops getting better and better, more and more coach shops were opened, and there was competition between them. The first thing to compete is forage. The coachman loves horses, and whoever has good forage will naturally go to his house. Later, with the development of the times, the objects received by coach shops became more complicated.

For example, there are vagrants, vendors, jugglers and doctors ... it is precisely because of these people that the business of car shops is booming. Due to the flow of people, some supporting facilities, such as pubs, carpenters' shops, grocery stores, etc., are slowly born around the cart shop, and often turn into a very lively market town in the end. There are singers and artists in the wheelbarrow shop ... they live in the garage, and their business is done in the garage. The driver ran all day, and he was tired. In the evening, he sat on the kang and listened to them sing a duet, which was also very exciting.

There are many people in the big car shop. So if you want to be an honest shopkeeper at this time, you won't be able to get off the bus. To open a caravan shop, you must first have strong capital, close ties with the government and deep contacts with bandits. He must try to make a caravan shop open quietly, otherwise, today's porn industry will be banned, tomorrow's gambling will be held, and the fugitives will be investigated the day after tomorrow ... After so much trouble, the RV shop will have to be closed. At the beginning, when Zhang was poor, he worked as a man in a carriage company for a while.

In that mixed environment, he not only exercised his ability to see people, but also learned a lot. For example, treating horses, or meeting the famous bandit leader Feng at that time. All these had a great influence on his later life. It can also be seen from the side that the coach shop is a social microcosm of Northeast China. However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, with the development of modern industry, cars gradually replaced big wheeled cars, and big car shops also withdrew from the historical stage.