Chased Three-Wheeled Taxis, Fast-Paced City: Between Beijing's Three-Wheeled Taxi Regulations and Environmental Policies (2000)

Chased Three-Wheeled Taxis, Fast-Paced City: Between Beijing's Three-Wheeled Taxi Regulations and Environmental Policies (2000)
In 2000, China, especially in Beijing, was rapidly restructuring its urban environment in tandem with economic development. Three-wheeled cabs were an inexpensive and convenient means of transportation for the common people, and were indispensable especially for the suburbs and the poor. However, the exhaust emissions, noise, and the discordance with the urban landscape as a symbol of chaotic traffic order began to be seen as a problem. In anticipation of the 2008 Olympics, the city authorities introduced a policy to gradually restrict the entry of three-wheeled cabs into the city center in an effort to beautify the environment and modernize the city.
This resulted in the loss of livelihood for many tricycle drivers and was a serious blow to peasant workers who had come from the countryside to work. While the city was becoming cleaner, the exclusion of the voiceless working class was also increasing, highlighting social divisions. This case, in which the balance between the convenience of citizens' lives, the improvement of the urban environment, and the protection of the rights of the economically vulnerable was questioned, went beyond mere transportation policy to question the very nature of the city itself.