View source for Pulled rickshaw

{{Short description|Mode of human-powered transport}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
[[File:Calcutta rickshaw.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Pulled rickshaw, [[Kolkata]], 2004]]
{{infobox Chinese
|t=人力車
|s=人力车
|p=rénlìchē
|w=jên<sup>2</sup>-li<sup>4</sup>-chʻê<sup>1</sup>
|kanji=力車
|hiragana=りきしゃ
|romaji=rikisha
}}
A '''pulled rickshaw''' (from [[Japanese language|Japanese]] {{nihongo||人力車|jinrikisha|extra2='person/human-powered vehicle'}}) is a mode of [[human-powered transport]] by which a runner draws a two-wheeled [[cart]] which seats one or two people.

In recent times the use of human-powered [[rickshaw]]s has been discouraged or outlawed in many countries due to concern for the welfare of rickshaw workers.<ref name="Trillin104"/> Pulled rickshaws have been replaced mainly by [[cycle rickshaw]]s and [[auto rickshaws]].

==Overview==
{{main|Rickshaw}}
Rickshaws are commonly believed to have been invented in Japan in the 1860s, at the beginning of a period of rapid technical advancement.<ref name="Warren p. 14">{{cite book | title=Rickshaw Coolie: A People's History of Singapore, 1880-1940 | publisher=NUS Press | author=James Francis Warren | year=2003 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/rickshawcooliepe0000warr/page/14 14] | isbn=997169266X | url=https://archive.org/details/rickshawcooliepe0000warr/page/14 }}</ref><ref name="Diefendorf">{{cite book | title=Amazing . . . But False!: Hundreds of "Facts" You Thought Were True, But Aren't | publisher=Sterling Publishing Company | author=David Diefendorf | year=2007 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/amazingbutfalseh0000dief/page/223 223] | isbn=978-1402737916 | url=https://archive.org/details/amazingbutfalseh0000dief/page/223 }}</ref> In the 19th century, rickshaw pulling became an inexpensive, popular mode of transportation across Asia.<ref name="Warren p. 14" />

Peasants who migrated to large Asian cities often worked first as a rickshaw runner.<ref name="De Mente p. 95" /><ref name="Suryadinata p. 37">{{cite book | title=Chinese Adaptation and Diversity: Essays on Society and Literature in Indonesia, Malaysia & Singapore | publisher=NUS Press | author=Leo Suryadinata | year=1992 | pages=37 | isbn=9971691868 | others=National University of Singapore. Centre for Advanced Studies}}</ref> It was "the deadliest occupation in the East, [and] the most degrading for human beings to pursue."<ref name="Suryadinata p. 37" />{{#tag:ref|In China, [[coolies]] performed rickshaw pulling. Other hard or demeaning jobs included being [[manual scavenging|night soil cleaners]] and dock workers.<ref name="Suryadinata p. 37" />|group="nb"}}

The rickshaw's popularity in Japan declined by the 1930s with the advent of automated forms of transportation, like automobiles and trains. In China, the rickshaw's popularity began to decline in the 1920s.<ref name="De Mente p. 95" /><ref name=Powerhouse /> In Singapore, the rickshaw's popularity increased into the 20th century. There were approximately 50,000 rickshaws in 1920 and that number doubled by 1930.<ref name="Lu p. 348" />

==Description==
[[File:Kusakabe Kimbei - 34 Jinrikisha.jpg|thumb|''A lady with a parasol'', Jinrikisha, circa 1880]]
The initial rickshaws rode on iron-shod wooden wheels and the passenger sat on hard, flat seats. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, [[Natural rubber|rubber]] or [[Pneumatics|pneumatic]] rubber [[tire]]s, [[Upholstery coil springs|spring cushions]], and backrests improved the passenger's comfort. Other features, such as lights, were also added.<ref name="Lu p. 69">{{ cite book | title=Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century | url=https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha | url-access=registration | author=Hanchao Lu |publisher=University of California Press | year=1999 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha/page/69 69] | isbn=0520215648 }}</ref>

In the city of Shanghai, public rickshaws were painted yellow to differentiate from the private vehicles of the wealthy citizens, which were described as:
<blockquote>... always shiny, were carefully maintained, and sported 'a spotless white upholstered double seat, a clean [[Tartan|plaid]] for one's lap, and a wide protective tarpaulin to protect the passenger (or passengers, since sometimes up to three people rode together) against the rain.<ref>{{ cite book | title=Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century | url=https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha | url-access=registration | author=Hanchao Lu |publisher=University of California Press | year=1999 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha/page/69 69–70] | isbn=0520215648 }}</ref></blockquote>

The rickshaws were a convenient means of travel, able to traverse winding, narrow city streets. During [[monsoon season]], passengers might be carried out of the carriage, above the flooded streets, to the door of their arrival. They offered door-to-door travel, unlike scheduled public bus and tram service.<ref name="Lu p. 69" />

==Country overview==

===Africa===

====East Africa====
In the 1920s, it was used in [[Bagamoyo]] and [[Tanga, Tanzania|Tanga]] in Tanzania, and other areas of East Africa for short distances.<ref>{{ cite book | title=60 Years in East Africa: The Life of a Settler | author=Werner Voigt | publisher=GeneralStore Publishing House | pages=32, 34–35 | year=1995 | isbn=1896182399 }}</ref>

====Madagascar====
[[File:Pousse-pousse Madagascar.jpg|thumb|250px|Pousse-pousse in [[Madagascar]]]]
Rickshaws, known as ''pousse-pousse'', were introduced by British [[missionary|missionaries]]. The intention was to eliminate the slavery-associated [[palanquin]]. Its name pousse-pousse, meaning ''push-push'', is reportedly gained from the need to have a second person to push the back of the rickshaw on Madagascar's hilly roads. They are a common form of transport in a number of Malagasy cities, especially [[Antsirabe]], but are not found in the towns or cities with very hilly roads.<ref>{{ cite book | title=Madagascar | edition=10 | author=Hilary Bradt | year=2011 | publisher=Bradt Travel Guides | page=98 |isbn=978-1841623412 }}</ref> They are similar to Chinese rickshaws and are often brightly decorated.<ref>{{cite book | title=Madagascar, Volume 15 of Cultures of the World Cultures of the World - Group 15 | publisher=Marshall Cavendish |author1=Jay Heale |author2=Zawiah Abdul Latif | year=2008 | pages=75–76 | isbn=978-0761430360 | edition=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yNax15GoPIkC&q=pousse-pousse&pg=PT59 | title=Madagascar Travel Guide | publisher=Lonely Planet | year=2012 | edition=7 | isbn=978-1743213018 }}</ref>

====Nairobi====
Rickshaws operated in [[Nairobi]] in the beginning of the 20th century; pullers went on strike there in 1908.<ref>{{ cite book | title=Africa under colonial domination 1880–1935: 7 | editor=A. Adu Boahen, Unesco. International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa | publisher=UNESCO | year=1985 | page=666 | isbn=9231017136 }}</ref>

====South Africa====
[[Durban]] is famous for its iconic [[Zulu people|Zulu]] rickshaw pullers navigating throughout the city. These colorful characters are famous for their giant, vibrant hats and costumes. They were introduced into Natal by Sir [[Marshall Campbell]] in the 1890s.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Joyce|first=Peter|url=https://archive.org/details/southafricanfami0000joyc|title=The South African family encyclopaedia|date=1989|publisher=Cape Town : Struik Publishers|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-86977-887-6}}</ref>{{rp|299}} There were about 2,000 registered men who pulled rickshaws in Durban in 1904. Since displaced by motorised transport, there are approximately 25 rickshaws left who mostly cater to tourists today.<ref>{{cite web |author=Romita Hanuman |url=http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/discover/history/our-town/rickshaws |title=Zulu Rickshaws |publisher=Durban.gov.za |access-date=2 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100519145024/http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/discover/history/our-town/rickshaws |archive-date=19 May 2010  }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=South Africa: Lesotho & Swaziland | publisher=Lonely Planet |author1=Mary Fitzpatrick |author2=Kate Armstrong | year=2006 | pages=308 | isbn=1740599705 | edition=7}}</ref>

===Asia===
[[File:Xiao er lun - Confucius and children.jpg|thumb|[[Confucius]] (transported in a wheeled cart) and children, as imagined by a 17th-century Chinese artist; presumably, the design is similar to the vehicles used at the time. (Illustration from a children's book, ''Xiao er lun'', printed in 1680)]]

====China====
In China, from the ancient times and until the 19th century, rich and important people, when traveling overland, were commonly transported in [[Litter (vehicle)#China|sedan chairs]] carried by bearers, rather than in wheeled vehicles. This was at least partly explained by road conditions.<ref>{{citation
|first=Hugh |last=Murray
|publisher=Oliver & Boyd |year=1836
|title=An Historical and Descriptive Account of China: Its Ancient and Modern History ...
|volume=1
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=7UYgG0afqLYC&pg=PA345
|pages=344–345
}}</ref>
<ref>{{citation
|first=Sir George |last=Staunton
|title=An Historical Account of the Embassy to the Emperor of China, Undertaken by Order of the King of Great Britain: Including the Manners & Customs of the Inhabitants & Preceded by an Account of the Causes of the Embassy & Voyage to China. Abridged Principally from the Papers of Earl Macartney...
|publisher= J. Stockdale|year= 1797
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=frc2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA279
|pages=279–280
}}</ref>
It is thought that it was from China (or East Asia in general) that sedan chair (a.k.a. "palanquin") designs were introduced into Western Europe in the 17th century.
<ref>{{citation
|first=A. |last=Reichwein
|publisher=Routledge |year=2013
|isbn=978-1136204623
|title=China and Europe
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=TBtsA_9v1gcC&pg=PA35
|page=35
}}</ref> However, wheeled carts for one or two passengers, pushed (rather than pulled, like a proper rikshaw) by human servant, were attested as well.
<ref>{{citation
|year=1888
|title=Locomotion in the Olden Time
|first=Fred Myron |last=Colby
|journal=Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire Magazine|volume=11
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=D1wSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA64
|page=64
}}</ref>

[[File:Tsingtau Taxameter 1914.jpg|thumb|Rickshaw and driver in [[Qingdao]], c. 1914]]
In the 19th century, wheelbarrow is the most popular transportation for commoners. In the spring of 1873, the French merchant Menard introduced rickshaw from Japan. The original name is "Jinrikisha", meaning "man-power-vehicle" in Japanese. Most of the rickshaws were owned by foreign investors at the beginning, but in around the 1900s, rickshaws were owned mostly by Chinese companies. The official name for rickshaw is "renliche", meaning "man-power-vehicle" in Chinese, but it is more commonly called "dongyangche", meaning "east-foreign-vehicle", or "huangbaoche" in Shanghai, meaning "yellow carriage for rent".<ref name="Warren p. 15">{{cite book | title=Rickshaw Coolie: A People's History of Singapore, 1880-1940 | publisher=NUS Press | author=James Francis Warren | year=2003 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/rickshawcooliepe0000warr/page/15 15] | isbn=997169266X | url=https://archive.org/details/rickshawcooliepe0000warr/page/15 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | title=Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century | url=https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha | url-access=registration | author=Hanchao Lu |publisher=University of California Press | year=1999 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha/page/68 68] | isbn=0520215648 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | title=Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century | url=https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha | url-access=registration | author=Hanchao Lu |publisher=University of California Press | year=1999 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha/page/68 68–81] | isbn=0520215648 }}</ref>

Rickshaw transportation was an important element in urban development in 20th century China, as a mode of transportation, source of employment and facilitation of migration for workers. According to author David Strand:
<blockquote>Sixty thousand men took as many as a half million fares a day in a city of slightly more than one million.  Sociologist Li Jinghan estimated that one out of six males in the city between the ages of sixteen and fifty was a puller.  Rickshaw men and their dependents made up almost 20 percent of Beijing's population.<ref name=Strand>{{ cite book | title=Rickshaw Beijing: City People and Politics in the 1920 | author=David Strand | page=21 }}</ref></blockquote>

Most manual rickshaws – seen by many [[Maoism|Maoists]] as a symbol of oppression of the working class<ref>{{ cite book | title=Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century | url=https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha | url-access=registration | author=Hanchao Lu |publisher=University of California Press | year=1999 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha/page/66 66], 73 | isbn=0520215648 }}</ref> – were eliminated in China after the [[People's Republic of China#History|founding of the People's Republic of China]] in 1949.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-nov-04-fg-rickshaw4-story.html|title=India Rickshaws Feeling the Pull of Modern Ways|last=Chu|first=Henry|date=4 November 2005|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=11 July 2018|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035|quote=After all, the Communists in China eliminated this mode of transport soon after assuming power more than half a century ago, criticizing it as primitive and demeaning.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/20/style/chinas-rickshaws-bring-back-bad-memories.html|title=China's Rickshaws Bring Back Bad Memories|last=Cernetig|first=Miro|date=20 October 1999|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=11 July 2018|language=en|quote=But this test-run of rickshaws in China's capital, after a ban of more than 40 years, is widely seen as retrograde. For many Chinese, the rickshaw remains a symbol of feudalism's "coolie culture" and one of the evils of capitalism that was supposed to have been expunged forever from Communist China.}}</ref>

=====Shanghai=====

Shanghai's rickshaw industry began in 1874 with 1,000 rickshaws imported from Japan. By 1914 there were 9,718 vehicles. The pullers were a large group of the city's working poor: 100,000 men pulled rickshaws by the early 1940s, up from 62,000 in the mid-1920s.<ref>{{cite book | title=Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century | url=https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha/page/65 | url-access=registration | author=Hanchao Lu | publisher=University of California Press | year=1999 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha/page/65 65–66, 68] | isbn=0520215648 }}</ref>

In contrary to coolies in Beijing, those in Shanghai mostly come from rural areas out of the city. With the destitution of their land, they poured into the city with their family. As the number of coolies rose up sharply, however, the number of rickshaw remained at 20,000 in Shanghai. Except private coolies, those for public work had to take turns, and thus their average income diminished to $9 per month. Therefore, many coolies worked in the factory and ran the rickshaw after work. However, many coolies were optimistic about life. They were satisfied about their income and dreamed of purchasing their own rickshaws and sending their kids to schools.<ref>{{ cite book | title=Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century | url=https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha | url-access=registration | author=Hanchao Lu |publisher=University of California Press | year=1999 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha/page/68 68–81] |isbn=0520215648 }}</ref> Due to this low income, many coolies would not give customers a clear idea of standard price and thus charge higher at any chance they had. In response to this phenomenon, hotels would provide the distance to various streets and the price charged.<ref>Darwent, Charles Ewart. Shanghai; a handbook for travellers and residents to the chief objects
of interest in and around the foreign settlements and native city. Shanghai, Hongkong: Kelly
and Walsh [date of publication not identified].</ref><ref>Hongs & Homes, 1928: A complete directory of Shanghai. Shanghai: Millington, Ltd., 1929.</ref>

====Hong Kong====
[[File:The final rickshaw ride in Hong Kong.jpg|right|thumb|Outside the Lion Pavilion Lookout in 2011 on [[Victoria Peak|The Peak]], Hong Kong, can find this last licensed rickshaw ride in this ex-British colony.]]
Rickshaws were first imported to Hong Kong from Japan in 1880. They were a popular form of transport for many years, peaking at more than 3,000 in the 1920s. However, their popularity waned after [[World War II]]. No new licenses for rickshaws have been issued since 1975, and only a few old men—three as of 2017<ref>[https://www.td.gov.hk/mini_site/atd/2018/en/section3_t_10.html] Vehicle Licensing during - 2008-2017</ref>—still hold a license. It is reported that only one of them still offer rickshaw rides on [[Victoria Peak|The Peak]], mainly for tourists.<ref>[https://forgotten-transport.blogspot.com/2011/09/does-rickshaw-still-exist-in-hong-kong.html 被遺忘的公交 The Forgotten Transportation: Rickshaw ride in Hong Kong<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

====India====
Around 1880, rickshaws appeared in India, first in [[Shimla|Simla]].<ref>{{ cite book | title=Imperial Simla: the political culture of the Raj | author=Pamela Kanwar | edition=2| publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2003 | page=176 | isbn=0195667212 }}</ref> At the turn of the century it was introduced in [[Kolkata]] (Calcutta), India and in 1914 was a conveyance for hire.<ref name="Warren p. 14" />

=====Service availability=====
Though most cities offer [[auto rickshaw]] service, hand-pulled rickshaws do exist in some areas, such as Kolkata,<ref>{{cite book | title=Frommer's India | publisher=John Wiley and Sons |author1=Pippa de Bruyn |author2=Keith Bain |author3=David Allardice |author4=Shonar Joshi | date=18 February 2010 | pages=15, 57, 156 | isbn=978-0470645802 | edition=Fourth}}</ref> "the last bastion of human powered ''tana'' rickshaws".<ref name=Bindloss/>{{#tag:ref|Several major streets have been closed to rickshaw traffic since 1972, and in 1982 the city seized over 12,000 rickshaws and destroyed them.  In 1992, it was estimated that over 30,000 rickshaws were operating in the city, all but 6,000 of them illegally, lacking a license (no new licenses have been issued since 1945).  The large majority of rickshaw pullers rent their rickshaws for a few dollars per shift.  They live cheaply in hostels, trying to save money to send home. (Eide, 1993) Each ''dera'', a mixture of a garage, repair shop, and dormitory, has a ''sardar'' that manages it. Pullers often pay around 100 [[Indian rupee|rupees]] (around $2.50 United States dollars) per month to live in a ''dera''.<ref name="Trillin101to104">{{cite magazine |last=Trillin |first=Calvin |date=April 2008 |title=Last Days of the Rickshaw |url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/kolkata-rickshaws/calvin-trillin-text |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319154322/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/kolkata-rickshaws/calvin-trillin-text |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 March 2008 |magazine=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |volume=213 |issue=4 |pages=101–104}}</ref> [[Hinduism|Hindu]] and [[Muslim]] pullers often share housing.<ref name="Trillin100">{{cite magazine |last=Trillin |first=Calvin |date=April 2008 |title=Last Days of the Rickshaw |url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/kolkata-rickshaws/calvin-trillin-text |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319154322/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/kolkata-rickshaws/calvin-trillin-text |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 March 2008 |magazine=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |volume=213 |issue=4 |page=100}}</ref> Some pullers sleep in the streets in their rickshaws.

As of 2008, many of the Kolkata rickshaw pullers originate from [[Bihar]], considered to be one of the poorest states in India.<ref name="Trillin100"/><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Trillin |first=Calvin |date=April 2008 |title=Last Days of the Rickshaw |url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/kolkata-rickshaws/calvin-trillin-text |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319154322/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/kolkata-rickshaws/calvin-trillin-text |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 March 2008 |magazine=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |volume=213 |issue=4 |page=96}}</ref>|group="nb"}} According to Trillin, most Kolkata rickshaws serve people "just a notch above poor" who tend to travel short distances. However, in a recent article by Hyrapiet and Greiner,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hyrapiet  |first1=Shireen |last2=Greiner |first2=Alyson L. |date=October 2012 |title=Calcutta's Hand–Pulled Rickshaws: Cultural Politics and Place Making in a Globalizing City |journal=Geographical Review |volume=102 |issue=4 |pages=407–426 |doi=10.1111/j.1931-0846.2012.00167.x|s2cid=143034771 }}</ref> the authors found that rickshaws also transport middle-class residents who use their services out of convenience and for short-distance trips to the local marketplace. Rickshaws are used to transport goods, shoppers, and school children.{{#tag:ref|Trillin added that pullers told him that children enrolled in schools were the "steadiest" customers. Many middle-class families contract with rickshaw pullers to transport their children; a rickshaw puller who transports children becomes a "family retainer".<ref name="Trillin100"/>|group="nb"}} It is also used as a "24-hour ambulance service."<ref name="Trillin100"/> Also according to Hyrapiet and Greiner, rickshaw pullers have acted as peer-educators for the Calcutta Samaritans providing critical information on HIV/AIDS because of their access to marginalized groups within Kolkata's red light districts.

Rickshaws are the most effective means of transportation through the flooded streets of the monsoon season.<ref name=Bindloss/> When Kolkata floods rickshaw business increases and prices rise.<ref name="Trillin101">{{cite magazine |last=Trillin |first=Calvin |date=April 2008 |title=Last Days of the Rickshaw |url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/kolkata-rickshaws/calvin-trillin-text |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319154322/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/kolkata-rickshaws/calvin-trillin-text |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 March 2008 |magazine=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |volume=213 |issue=4 |page=101}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|A Kolkata writer told Trillin, "When it rains, even the governor takes rickshaws."<ref name="Trillin101" />|group="nb"}}

The pullers live a life of poverty and many sleep under rickshaws.<ref name=Bindloss>{{cite book | title=India | publisher=Lonely Planet | author=Joe Bindloss | year=2009 | pages=135 | isbn=978-1741793192 | edition=2 }}</ref> [[Rudrangshu Mukerjee]], an academic, stated many people's ambivalent feelings about riding a rickshaw: he does not like being carried about in a rickshaw but does not like the idea of "taking away their livelihood".{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

Motor vehicles are banned in the [[Eco-Sensitive Zone|Eco-sensitive zone]] area of [[Matheran]], [[India]], a tourist hill station near [[Mumbai]] so man-pulled rickshaws are still one of the major forms of transport there.<ref>{{cite news|author1=Admin|title=Matheran: Smallest, peaceful & vehicle-free hill station|url=http://www.indiapost.com/matheran-smallest-peaceful-vehicle-free-hill-station/|work=India Post}}</ref>

=====Legislation=====
In Tamil Nadu, in 1974, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Government of M . Karunanidhi officially banned the operation of Hand Pulled Rickshaws in Tamil Nadu by replacing them with pedal Rickshaws .

In August 2005, the Communist government of [[West Bengal]] announced plans to completely ban pulled rickshaws, resulting in protests and strikes of the pullers.<ref>WebIndia, 2005.</ref> In 2006, the chief minister of West Bengal, [[Buddhadeb Bhattacharya]], announced that pulled rickshaws would be banned and that rickshaw pullers would be rehabilitated.<ref name="Trillin97">{{cite magazine |last=Trillin |first=Calvin |date=April 2008 |title=Last Days of the Rickshaw |url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/kolkata-rickshaws/calvin-trillin-text |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319154322/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/kolkata-rickshaws/calvin-trillin-text |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 March 2008 |magazine=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |volume=213 |issue=4 |page=97}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|Calvin Trillin of ''[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]]'' stated in a 2008 article that the city government has not decided how rickshaw drivers would be rehabilitated, nor has it settled on a date regarding when the government would decide. Trillin added that many high West Bengal officials made statements saying that rickshaws would be banned from 1976 to 2008.<ref name="Trillin104">{{cite magazine |last=Trillin |first=Calvin |date=April 2008 |title=Last Days of the Rickshaw |url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/kolkata-rickshaws/calvin-trillin-text |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319154322/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/kolkata-rickshaws/calvin-trillin-text |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 March 2008 |magazine=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |volume=213 |issue=4 |page=104}}</ref>|group="nb"}}
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Rikshaw voortgetrokken door een chinese man Medan TMnr 10013835.jpg|thumb|A Chinese man posing next to his rickshaw, [[Medan]], Indonesia 1936]]

in August 2025, Supreme Court of India officially banned pulled rickshaws.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ojha |first1=Srishti |title=Top court calls hand-pulled rickshaws 'inhuman', asks for pullers' rehabilitation |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/supreme-court-calls-practice-of-hand-pulled-rickshaws-inhuman-and-asks-government-to-arrange-for-rehabilitation-of-pullers-2767503-2025-08-07 |website=India Today |access-date=8 August 2025 |language=en-in |date=7 August 2025}}</ref>

====Indonesia====
Pulled rickshaws used to be in Indonesia a long time ago. Nowadays, they are replaced by ''Delman'' (the horse-drawn carriage) and ''Becak'' (cycle rickshaw/pedicab).
[[File:JapaneseRickshaw.jpg|thumb|Japanese pulled rickshaws {{c.|1897}}]]

====Japan====
There are several theories about the [[rickshaw|invention of the rickshaw]]. Japan historian Seidensticker wrote of the theories:
<blockquote>Though the origins of the rickshaw are not entirely clear, they seem to be Japanese, and of Tokyo specifically. The most widely accepted theory offers the name of three inventors, and gives 1869 as the date of invention.<ref name="Lu p. 348">{{cite book | title=Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century | url=https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha | url-access=registration | publisher=University of California Press | author=Hanchao Lu | year=1999 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/beyondneonlights0000luha/page/348 348] | isbn=0520215648}}</ref></blockquote>

Starting in 1870, the Tokyo government issued a permission for Izumi Yosuke, Takayama Kosuke, and Suzuki Tokujiro to build and sell rickshaws.<ref name="De Mente p. 94">{{cite book | title=The Bizarre and the Wondrous from the Land of the Rising Sun! | publisher=Cultural-Insight Books | author=Boye De Mente | year=2010 | isbn=978-1456424756 | editor=Demetra De Ment | pages=94 }}</ref> By 1872, they became the main mode of transportation in Japan, with about 40,000 rickshaws in service.<ref name=Powerhouse>{{cite web | url=http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/insidethecollection/tag/jinrikisha/ | publisher=Powerhouse Museum | title=Japanese rickshaw | access-date=11 April 2013 }}</ref>

The rickshaw's popularity in Japan declined by the 1930s with the advent of automated forms of transportation, like automobiles and trains. After World War II, when gasoline and automobiles were scarce, they made a temporary come-back. The rickshaw tradition has stayed alive in [[Kyoto]] and Tokyo's [[geisha]] districts<ref name="De Mente p. 95">{{cite book | title=The Bizarre and the Wondrous from the Land of the Rising Sun! | publisher=Cultural-Insight Books | author=Boye De Mente | year=2010 | isbn=978-1456424756 | editor=Demetra De Ment | pages=95 }}</ref><ref name=Powerhouse /> only for tourists as well as in other tourist places. The tradition completely disappeared once, but a few people revived jinrikisha (human-powered rickshaws) for tourists in the 1970s-1980s<ref>[http://yuufuutei.main.jp/kamakura/?page_id=2128 Jinrikisha in Kamakura] Youfuu-tei</ref><ref>[http://39hida.com/jinriki/ Jinrikisha in Hidatakayama] Gokurak-sha</ref> and the rickshaws became popular as a tourism resource in the 2000s.<ref>[http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/routes/rtp/northern_tohoku/day1.html 3-Day Model Trip Day1 / Kakunodate - Lake Tazawa-ko - Morioka] Japan National Tourism Organization, 31 January 2002</ref><ref>[http://www.isfj.net/ronbun_backup/2009/k05.pdf 京都観光] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150616073707/http://www.isfj.net/ronbun_backup/2009/k05.pdf |date=16 June 2015 }} ISFJ政策フォーラム2009発表論文 12 – 13 December 2009</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_9E9tHpDts Rickshaw] TV Show "Sekai Tsukai Densetsu" 2002-2003</ref> The modern rickshaw men are a kind of tourist guide, who take their clients to some tourist spots and explain about them.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvX48c9TKK8 Hataraku Ikemen] JoshiFuji Channel 2013/04/29</ref> Many of them are part-time working students and athletes who like running or exchanging cultures.

====Malaysia====
Rickshaws were a common mode of transport in urban areas of [[Malaysia]] in the 19th and early 20th centuries until gradually replaced by [[cycle rickshaw]]s.{{Citation needed|date=April 2013}}

====Pakistan====
Pulled and cycle rickshaw (''qinqi'') have been banned in [[Pakistan]] since April 1960.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19591104&id=e1pYAAAAIBAJ&pg=2852,691451 | title=Pakistan To Ban Rickshaws | first=Harry S. | last=Bradsheer | date=4 November 1959 | newspaper=Lakeland Ledger | page=4 | access-date=3 December 2018 }}</ref> Prior to the introduction of [[auto rickshaw]]s in cities, horse-drawn carriages (''[[Tanga (carriage)|tongas]]'') were a main source of public transportation.

====Philippines====
The pulled rickshaw never gained acceptance in the Philippines. Americans tried to introduce it to [[Manila City|Manila]] in the early 20th century, but it was strongly opposed by local Filipinos who viewed it as an undignified mode of transport that turned humans into "beasts". The main mode of public and private transportation in the Philippines from the 18th to the early 20th centuries was the ''[[kalesa]]'', a two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage.<ref name="Pante">{{cite journal |last1=Pante |first1=Michael D. |title=Rickshaws and Filipinos: Transnational Meanings of Technology and Labor in American-Occupied Manila |journal=International Review of Social History |date=14 August 2014 |volume=59 |issue=S22 |pages=133–159 |doi=10.1017/S0020859014000315 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

====Singapore====
Singapore had received its first rickshaws in 1880 and soon after they were prolific, making a "noticeable change in the traffic on Singapore's streets."<ref name="Warren p. 14" /> [[Bullock cart]]s and [[gharry|gharries]] were used prior to the introduction of rickshaws.<ref name="Suryadinata p. 37" />

Many of the poorest individuals in Singapore in the late nineteenth century were poor, unskilled people of Chinese ancestry. Sometimes called [[coolies]], the hardworking men found pulling rickshaws was a new means of employment.<ref name="Warren p. 15"/> Rickshaw pullers experienced "very poor" [[Habitability|living conditions]], poverty and long hours of hard work. Income remained unchanged from 1876 to 1926, about $.60 per day.<ref name="Suryadinata p. 39">Suryadinata (1992). p. 39.</ref><ref name="Alexander p. 435">{{cite book | title=Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore | publisher=New Holland Publishers | author=James Alexander | year=2006 | pages=435 | isbn=1860113095}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|80% of rickshaw pullers were addicted to opium and many gambled and purchased the services of whores. These activities locked them into a state of poverty, but the remaining group of pullers might be able to improve their lot over time and "strike into new lines of business as the opportunities arose". Rickshaw pullers could become repairers or owners of rickshaws or bicycles.<ref name="Alexander p. 435" /><ref>{{cite book | title=(same) |author=Leo Suryadinata | year=1992 | pages=39–40}}</ref>|group="nb"}}

Rickshaws popularity increased into the 20th century. There were approximately 50,000 rickshaws in 1920 and that number doubled by 1930.<ref name="Lu p. 348" /> In or after the 1920s a union was formed, called the Rickshaw Association, to protect the welfare of rickshaw workers.<ref name="Suryadinata p. 45">Suryadinata (1992). p. 45.</ref>

===North America===

====United States====
[[File:RicshaRide25c..jpg|thumb|A tourist "Ricsha" ride in [[Chinatown, Los Angeles]], 1938]]
From ''A History of the Los Angeles City Market (1930-1950)'', pulled rickshaws were operated in Los Angeles by high school teenagers during that time period.<ref>{{cite web | title=A History of The Los Angeles City Market: 1930-1950 | url=http://www.chinatownremembered.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=78&Itemid=112 | publisher=Chinese Historical Society of Southern California (previously published: Gum Saan Journal, Volume 32, No. 1, 2010) | author=Tara Fickle | access-date=12 April 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220032301/http://www.chinatownremembered.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=78&Itemid=112 | archive-date=20 December 2014 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | title=The Chinese in America: A Narrative History | author=Iris Chang | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1a7gXiXnKF0C&pg=PT155 | publisher=Penguin | year=2004 | isbn=1101126876 | page=PT155 }}</ref>

====Canada====
Foot-driven rickshaws have enjoyed several decades of popularity in [[Halifax Regional Municipality|Halifax]], Nova Scotia; in addition to providing tours of the historic Waterfront, rickshaws are also occasionally used for transportation by local residents. The city is home to the oldest rickshaw company in Canada.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hfxrickshawtours.com/aboutus/ |title=Halifax Rickshaw Tours |year=2013 |access-date=19 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811215936/http://hfxrickshawtours.com/aboutus/ |archive-date=11 August 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Rickshaws are a popular mode of transportation in downtown [[Ottawa, Ontario]], providing tours of historical [[Byward Market]], in the summer. Ottawa's rickshaws stay true to the traditional foot-driven rickshaw model, but feature modern sound-systems.<ref>{{ cite book | title=Frommer's Canada: With the best hiking & outdoor adventures |author1=Hilary Davidson |author2=Paul Karr |author3=Herbert Bailey Livesey |author4=Bill McRae |author5=Donald Olson | edition=14 | publisher=John Wiley & Sons | year=2006 | isbn=0470044578 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://ottawarickshaws.ca/tours-and-services/downtown-rickshaw-tours/ | title=Downtown Ottawa Rickshaw Tours | publisher=Ottawa Rickshaws | access-date=13 April 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130419002430/http://ottawarickshaws.ca/tours-and-services/downtown-rickshaw-tours/ | archive-date=19 April 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Books, films, television, music and modern art==
[[File:Rickshaw 01.jpg|thumb|250px|Rickshaw in a museum in Japan]]
* An early [[Rudyard Kipling]] story has the title ''[[The Phantom 'Rickshaw and other Eerie Tales|The Phantom Rickshaw]]'' (1885). In it a young Englishman has a romance aboard a ship bound for India. He ends the affair and becomes engaged to another woman, causing his original love to die of a broken heart. After that, on excursions around the city of [[Shimla|Simla]], he frequently sees the ghost of the deceased driving around in her yellow-panelled rickshaw, though nobody else seems to notice the phenomenon.<ref>{{ cite web | url=http://www.online-literature.com/keats/3790/ | title=The Phantom Rickshaw | publisher=Online Literature | access-date=13 April 2013}}</ref>
* The 1936 novel ''[[Rickshaw Boy]]'' is a novel by the Chinese author [[Lao She]] about the life of a fictional Beijing rickshaw man. The English version ''Rickshaw Boy'' became a U.S. bestseller in 1945. It was an unauthorized translation that added a [[happy ending]] to the story. In 1982, the original version was made into a film of the same title.<ref>{{ cite book | title=Rickshaw Boy: A Novel | location=New York | publisher=Harper Perennial Modern Chinese Classics | year=2010 |translator-last=Goldblatt |translator-first=Howard |translator-link=Howard Goldblatt | isbn=9780061436925 }}</ref>
* In the 1940s, [[Eddy Howard]] recorded a song called ''The Rickety Rickshaw Man''.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Most Played Juke Box Records |magazine=The Billboard |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |date=25 January 1947 |volume=59 |issue=4 |page=24}}</ref>
* The 1958 Japanese movie ''Muhomatsu no issho'' (''[[Rickshaw Man]]'') by [[Hiroshi Inagaki]] tells the story of a Matsugoro, a rickshaw man who becomes a surrogate father to the child of a recently widowed woman.
* The 1953 [[Bollywood]] film ''[[Do Bigha Zameen]]'', directed by [[Bimal Roy]], describes the fate of an impoverished farmer who becomes a rickshaw puller in [[Kolkata]].
* In the 1992 film ''[[City of Joy (film)|City of Joy]]'' (whose title refers to Kolkata), [[Om Puri]] plays a rickshaw puller, revealing the economic and emotional hardship that these underpaid workers face on a day-to-day basis.
* In [[Pearl S. Buck]]'s 1931 novel ''[[The Good Earth]]'', hero Wang Lung leaves his land to travel southward during a drought.  He ends up in the city of Kiangsu ([[Jiangsu]]), where he becomes a rickshaw puller in order to support his family.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Good Earth | author=Pearl S. Buck | publisher=Simon and Schuster | year=2004 | edition=reprint | isbn=0743272935 | url=https://archive.org/details/goodearthoprahsb00pear }}</ref>
* In the 1998 ''[[Seinfeld]]'' episode "[[The Bookstore]]", Kramer and Newman decide to start a rickshaw business with homeless people being trained to carry passengers.

==See also==
{{col-begin}}
* [[Kalesa]]
{{col-break}}

===Rickshaws===
* [[Electric rickshaw]]
* [[Auto rickshaw]]
* [[Cycle rickshaw]]
* [[Rickshaw]]
* [[Rickshaw art]]
{{col-break}}

===Other human powered transport===
* [[Human-powered transport]]
* [[Boda-boda]] (bicycle taxi)
* [[Carriage]]
* [[Litter (vehicle)|Litter]]
* [[Handcar]]
* [[Taiwanese push car railways]]
{{col-end}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=nb}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{ cite book | title= Calcutta cycle-rickshaw pullers: a sociological study | author= Bandyopadhyay, Subir | publisher=Minerva Associates Publications | year=1990 | isbn=8185195277 }}
* {{ cite book | title=Reluctant Heroes: Richshaw Pullers in Hong Kong And Canton, 1874-1954 | author = Fung, Chi Ming |others=Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland | publisher=Hong Kong University Press | year=2005 | isbn=9622097340 }}
* {{ cite book | title=A socio-economic survey of rickshaw drivers in Hyderabad City area | author=Indian Institute of Economics | publisher=A.P. | year=1962 }}
* {{cite book | title=Solar-assisted Electric Auto Rickshaw Three Wheeler | author = Mulhall, Priscilla | publisher=Illinois Institute of Technology | year= 2010 }}
* {{cite book | title=Rickshaw Coolie: A People's History of Singapore, 1880-1940 | publisher=NUS Press | author=Warren, James Francis | year=2003 | isbn=997169266X | url=https://archive.org/details/rickshawcooliepe0000warr }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Hand-pulled rickshaws}}
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Jin-Riki-Sha|year=1905 |short=x}}

{{human-powered vehicles}}
{{Public transport}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Vehicles for hire]]
[[Category:Cycle types]]
[[Category:Rickshaws]]
[[Category:Hand barrows]]