Not content with the physical labour people offered to transport others: the rickshaw and the pedicab, the Chinese authorities stimulated in the 1950s the development of minicars, to be used as taxicabs. The Automobile and Tractor Department of the Qinghua (Tsinghua) University in Beijing developed in the years 1958-61 a whole series of them, I counted 5 different models with 11 different versions which I will introduce here. Qinghua worked together with the Beijing Second Repair Works.
The models were named Weixing, which means Satellite. The total batch was 126 units. Other sources speak of 146.
The most well-known is a Weixing which was introduced to Prime Minister Zhou Enlai when he was visited by North Korean leader Kim Il-Song. Zhou was fairly enthusiast about the minicars, he was also photographed behind the steering wheel of one of them.
This four-seat Weixing minicar had a single cylinder engine, consuming alcohol or petrol. Output was 12-13hp. The vehicle measured a length of 2400mm, a width of 1080mm. Maximum speed 56km/h, fuel consumption 3-4 litre/100km.
A second source speaks about a 650c c engine, speed 55-60 km/h, consumption 5 litre/100km.
A third source tells us: length 2700mm, width 1250mm. Wheelbase 1400mm. Weight 440kg. Engine 410cc, 2 cylinder, air-cooled. Speed 60km/h.
It is possible that all this information belongs to different models.
After the prototypes, the first batch was made in 1959: 33 units, a second in May 1960: 40 units.
Here under: two other versions, different front bumpers (left) and a V on the front (right).
The second model is a cab over engine model with rear engine, a kind of mpv ‘avant la lettre’, in two versions.
A third model had a very short wheelbase. Initially it reminded me to the English Frisky, but looking at Frisky photos there are a lot of differences!
A fourth model had a very simple front. There is a version with full metal doors, another with doors half made of metal/fabric.
The next model is influenced by the famous East German Trabant.
Fifth model. It looks a bit droopy. It resembles the first model.
Qinghua minis were too small for passenger transport. The alternative was the Jinggangshan four-door and after that the Dongfanghong BJ760. Minicabs came back in the 1980s/90s with the Tianjin Dafa minivan.
Please, whenever you have more information, or when you want to comment, please give your reaction!!
http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_1035420.html
Many thanks, James. Very useful. It shows the colour photos were from the movie. I added the photo of the blue car (which seems to be equal to the Bordeaux-red car) and replaced the photo of the green car.
[…] only Beijing made minicars in the late 1950s (see our entry “Minicars made by the Qinghua University in Beijing.“), also Shanghai did an effort to replace the pedicab and the rickshaw by small motorized […]
The man sitting next to Premier Zhou Enlai in your 2nd photo from the top was not Mao’s private driver. It was my father, Bertrand Hsu (Xu Dahong). He was the Chief Engineer for this project at Tsinghua University.
Dear Ann,
many thanks for the correction. I updated the text and made a reference to your fathers website.
[…] Writing for China Car History is sometimes dull, and sometimes exciting. This is such an exciting moment! My Chinese car friend Robert from Poland, who I know for 20 years, has sent me yesterday some pages of a Chinese language magazine called Auto News, edition late 2000. The writer describes the mini-auto’s made by the Qinghua University in 1958-1961. I have written about these cars in China Car History in December 2018. […]
In an old Chinese movie Football Fans, this tiny vehicle was captured.
Yes, Renfei in this movie you can see different Shanghai made minicars. I wrote about these mini’s: https://chinacarhistory.com/2019/01/15/minicars-from-shanghai/. In the comments you can see that a mr. Ming already two years ago mentioned this (great) FAN movie.
The movie also shows some foreign mini’s: like a Daf (see https://chinacarhistory.com/2021/07/01/daf-in-china/) or a Plymouth?? (https://chinacarhistory.com/2020/04/22/the-mystery-car-from-nanjing/).