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Cars
Although some were necessary for purposes of national prestige, car manufacture had a very low priority in Mao's China and production never exceeded a few thousand vehicles per year.
The badge at right was issued by the Jilin Automobile Standard Parts Factory and depicts a Hongqi CA770. Less than one thousand were made of this model, which was introduced in 1963 and was used to transport high officials and foreign dignitaries.
43mm 9.6g
h. 65mm w. 67mm 19.7g
51mm 11.2g
h. 37mm w. 27mm 3.3g
Above left: commemorating (with a rather late reference to the gift of mangoes) the first anniversary of the creation of three revolutionary committees at the Capital Motor Company on 16th February 1968
Above right: issued by (the revolutionary committee of) the Guangxi Union Automotive Company
Left: commemorating the formation of the Guangxi Union Automotive Company in December 1966
Unlike trains, trucks, tractors, wheelbarrows, bicycles, aircraft and ships, cars are absent from masthhead books; they lacked both revolutionary significance and practical value, nor did they play any part in China's foreseeable socialist future.