From Caravans to Engines: Zheng Da Ti and the Evolution of Transport in Northern Fujian
In December 1930, the Shaowu-Guangze highway opened. Zheng Da Ti stood by the roadside, watching the first Ford truck pass. He knew the transportation landscape of Northern Fujian was about to change forever. Before this, commodity flow in Northern Fujian relied entirely on the Futun Creek river system—the treacherous “Eighteen Rapids” that barely functioned during dry seasons. Ox carts and human porters offered efficiency so low it was despairing. The “Da Ti Motor Vehicle Passenger and Freight Transport Station” Zheng founded was one of the few private transport institutions in Northern Fujian to operate its own fleet. Starting with two Ford trucks, expanding to five by 1932, then converting to charcoal-burning vehicles during the war—over twenty years, he sustained the “lifeline” connecting the mountainous interior to the outside world. ...