Rickshaw (人力車)

Rickshaw came into Hong Kong in 1890. Actually, rickshaw was originated in Japan. Its Japanese name is 'jinrikisha’ (Macau).

It was a missionary who brought rickshaw into Hong Kong and later rich people also imported rickshaw from Japan for private use. Rickshaw eventually became very popular throughout Hong Kong. It was said that in its most flourishing period, there were about 3000 of them and about 8000 rickshaw drivers in the city.

After 1930 the popularity of rickshaw declined, as rich people turned to buy and use cars. After 1970, rickshaw were then weed out. Only dozens of them were remained at the Star Ferry and Tsim Sha Tsui for people to shoot photos. Similar to Macao, some of them are being preserved for tourism purposes. It acts as a distinguishable type of transport in Hong Kong.

Reference: Wikipedia Macau http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau#Transportation

Reference: LeePoSin Former Land Public Transport of Hong Kong.ppt.