Transportation Deployment Casebook/Beijing cars

The use of civilian vehicles

The mode to be analysed is civilian vehicles in Beijing, China. The introduction of civilian cars aims to benefit the private car owners by providing them a convenient and flexible way to reach a destination. As there are more potential car buyers in the market, civilian vehicles are also capable of providing a more comfortable driving experience such as featuring air-conditioning system, leather seats，heated and ventilated seats. Its main market is group pf people who prefer travelling to a destination without sharing with other people in an isolated space or reaching a destination where other transportation does not reach to.

What are the transport modes looked like in Beijing before the advent of civilian vehicles

Prior to the 1949 （the founding of New China），there is no petrol civilian vehicles in China. The primary transportation modes provided to Beijing residents was the locomotives, bicycle and rickshaw （a two-wheeled vehicle drawn by man）. There are indeed petrol vehicles used in Beijing prior to 1949 but only for the government or military use. Prior to 1949, the locomotives are the only mode that civilians can take to travel a relatively longer distance (excluding planes that are only used for military purpose). However, the locomotives have low energy efficiency and generates unpleasant noise. The mode that were publically used in beijing is bicycles are eco-friendly but can exhaust users if used for long distance. Man-powered Rickshaw travels at the slowest speed and are used for shorter distance and time. Comparing to the bicycles, Rickshaw was only used by middle class or aristocracy. After the newly established government established the birth of the new china at 1949，the vehicles market was open to the public in accordance with the reform and opening-up policy. The Government see the needs of introducing cars in the market can partly ensure that Chinese people can be internationally compatible.

The first “automobile” was built as a scaled down model around 1672. It was steamed powered and was a gift for the Chinese emperor.

Setright, L. J. K. (2004). Drive On!: A Social History of the Motor Car. Granta Books. ISBN 1-86207-698-7.

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the first full-scale, self-propelled mechanical vehicle in about 1769. The external combustion engine was adapted to a variety of modes such as steam cars or steam buses during the first part of the 19th century. Design could follow the same developing pattern and process but achieving the different outcomes. The internal combustion engine was invented at 1807 by Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude but was used on powering a boat. surprisingly, in the same year, the Swiss inventor François Isaac de Rivaz invented a similar internal combustion engine which was used to power a vehicle. The invention of combustion engine stimulates the development of the vehicle. Later on, the gasoline powered vehicle was invented in 1893 and the diesel engine was invented in 1897. Steamed powered, electric powered and gasoline powered vehicles has competed for a long time till the gasoline internal combustion engine dominated the market in the 1910s.