Drive on the Right in China

I am glad that China switched to 'drive on the right'. do they manufacture any Chinese cars today with steering wheels on the right side of the car?

Very good explore for China driving roles. Someday you or us could make another topic regarding Road History compare of China and World. From pictures you had such wonderful trip in Australia. Any idea for that land in terms of geographic issue?

The reason Shanghai started out driving on the left is that British influence was dorminant. The old picture above was actually taken inside British colonial district (now Wai Tan). I am not sure if that driving habbit could represent China as a whole during that time.

Quote: "Why people in the other countries drive in the WRONG way?"

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This comes from a joke! The British drive on the "wrong" side of the road because we drive on the "right" side of the road.

Get it?

Давид

Shrek7, as far as I know, there is no factory in China manufacturing "right-side steering wheel cars". I saw some cars running on the road of China with Right-Side Wheels years ago - it was a symbol of pirvated cars - the cars imported into China without paying tax. Of cause it was illegal. Recent years, I don't see this kind of cars.

Stephen, what does it mean "Any idea for that land in terms of geographic issue?". I didn't get it.

jqian, exactly. In north China, people drive on the right at the same time. The old pictures tells a lot of stories. For example, the bus is exactly like the current bus in Melbourne.

Dave G., maybe. I didn't realize "Right Way" may also mean the "correct way" in jokes. :-)

Jian Shou, "that land in terms of geographic issue" means geographic landmarks. Australia has a very dramatic landscape. Australia is famous for its "outback," the remote lands of the interior. The desert outback covers most of the interior. It is too hot, dry and barren to support many people. Eastern Australia has large areas of grasslands, used primarily for sheep and cattle ranches. Australia also has some mountainous areas and plateaus scattered throughout the country. The Blue Mountains, on the south-eastern end of Australia, get their name from the blue haze caused by oil droplets given off from the eucalyptus trees.

There may be cars with steering wheels on the right in China (These are known as Right-Hand-Drive or RHD vehicles, as opposed to LHD). All Hong Kong vehicles coming in to Shenzhen would be RHD. Vice versa, mainland vehicles going into Hong Kong would be LHD vehicles driving on the left side.

If I’m not mistaken it is the British influence taken from their days as being the dominate force on the high seas and in shipping. Ships pass to the starboard (to the right) and when they started using automobiles it seemed only logical to do as the ships did.

Hi Jian Shuo Wang,

We would like to make an interview with you on you as a blogger who spends time helping people by giving information on life in Shanghai. There is supposed to be many bloggers in China these days, but your blog stands out.

Kind regards,
Ida at Shanghai Star and China Daily

The 磁悬浮 travels on the left side. :P

I think people call it the "wrong" side as opposed to the "right" side. English puns are funny.

There is a logical reason for driving on the left side of the road and an illogical reason for driving on the right and this goes back to history. The rule for driving on the left side of the road goes back to the days of horse transport. A person riding a horse wanted to get off onto the pavement(sidewalk in North America). A horseman always gets on and off on the left side of a horse. In line with this coaches also drove on the left and the driver always sat on the right hand side of the coach even in countries that now drive on the right hand side. Laws were passed in Britain sying that cars (like boats and ships) must drive on the left. When later laws were to be passed in France apparently the feeling was that the French would do things their own way and not follow Britain. So if the British were going to drive on the left then the French were going to drive on the right! The rest of Europe and North America followed the French lead. Just as well ships and boat traffic follows the same rules all over the world. This is what I learned in school (in part of the British Empire!) so it may be just a piece of anti-French propoganda - or maybe it is true.
Great Blog Jian Shuo.
Regards,
Masoud Mahmood

You have solved a problem for me. My website has pictures of Shanghai in 1924 in which cars and trolleys and rickshaws are all on the left. I thought maybe the pictures had been reversed. I am delighted to find the people have reversed and my pictures are OK. I can't imagine the confusion when they changed. Take a look at my website at www.bucklinchinaarchive.com. There are lots of good pictures.