Parking in Front of the Great Hall of the People, Beijing 1979

The main vehicle in this picture is the Shanghai sedan (上海牌), which is modeled after a Mercedes-Benz 220S.  The Shanghai Motor Corporation started work on this model during the Great Leap Forward in 1958. With production put on hold in the early 60s, the first cars only began to come off the line in 1965. Like their mechanical cousin, the First Automobile Works’ Red Flag Sedan, they went exclusively to government work-units, where top personnel used them for their transportation needs, often with a personal driver. In modified form, this transportation arrangement has persisted to this day.  

The most remarkable aspect of this photo is hidden in plain sight. A parking lot full of cars might not seem to be that big a deal. But, until the early 2000s, having a personal car was an obscure object of desire far out of the reach of anybody in China, except the powerful and very well-off. A parking lot full of cars in front of the halls of the central government is thus a clear statement of who has wealth, power, and the increased physical mobility that often comes with possessing the former in societies with mechanized transportation.