Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1877 — Wheelbarrow-Riding at Shanghai. [ARTICLE]

Wheelbarrow-Riding at Shanghai.

You all enjoy riding in a carriage, or a wagon, or on a sled, I know, and America has a great many fine carriages and buggies to ride in. The Chinese also like to ride, and now that foreigners have come here, we often see natives with horses and carriages riding about in Shanghai. But horses ana carriages cost so much that the poor people cannot afiord to own them or hire them. Still they want to ride, and how do you think they manage to get a ride without paying much money f In Shanghai there are a great man Chinamen who buy wheelbarrows, and then go about in the streets just as men with omnibuses aad hacks do at home, and sing out, "eAo-te, eho-u! ” which means “canriager<«‘ riage.” Here is one man saying “ Cartage for the Little East Gate.” another goes to the North Gate, and so on for all parts of Shanghai, outside of the walls, for inside the streets are too narrow for a wheelbarrow.

These wheelbarrows are larger than those used at home, and are arranged with a seat on each side of the large wheel. A rack is built over the wheel to keep the clothes from being rubbed; a cushion is'' E laced on each seat, and a piece of rope sags down like a stirrup to put the foot in for support. Ladies and gentlemen ore to be seen at any time of the day out riding on these wheelbarrows, and they ore much used by laboring men and women, in going to work or returning home. *1 have ridden on them, and think them quite comfortable. 1 said they are cheap. A Chinaman pays about eighteen cash, or one cent and a half, to nde a mile. A foreigner must pay a little more, about two cents. > . Ibe wheelbarrows are also used for wheeling hardens, and it is quite wonderful how heavy a burden one of these wheelbarrow-men con take on hit carriage. —Chiidren't Work for Children.