Editing Pulled rickshaw (section)

==Overview==
{{main|Rickshaw}}
Rickshaws are commonly believed to have been invented in Japan in the 1860s, at the beginning of a period of rapid technical advancement.<ref name="Warren p. 14">{{cite book | title=Rickshaw Coolie: A People's History of Singapore, 1880-1940 | publisher=NUS Press | author=James Francis Warren | year=2003 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/rickshawcooliepe0000warr/page/14 14] | isbn=997169266X | url=https://archive.org/details/rickshawcooliepe0000warr/page/14 }}</ref><ref name="Diefendorf">{{cite book | title=Amazing . . . But False!: Hundreds of "Facts" You Thought Were True, But Aren't | publisher=Sterling Publishing Company | author=David Diefendorf | year=2007 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/amazingbutfalseh0000dief/page/223 223] | isbn=978-1402737916 | url=https://archive.org/details/amazingbutfalseh0000dief/page/223 }}</ref> In the 19th century, rickshaw pulling became an inexpensive, popular mode of transportation across Asia.<ref name="Warren p. 14" />

Peasants who migrated to large Asian cities often worked first as a rickshaw runner.<ref name="De Mente p. 95" /><ref name="Suryadinata p. 37">{{cite book | title=Chinese Adaptation and Diversity: Essays on Society and Literature in Indonesia, Malaysia & Singapore | publisher=NUS Press | author=Leo Suryadinata | year=1992 | pages=37 | isbn=9971691868 | others=National University of Singapore. Centre for Advanced Studies}}</ref> It was "the deadliest occupation in the East, [and] the most degrading for human beings to pursue."<ref name="Suryadinata p. 37" />{{#tag:ref|In China, [[coolies]] performed rickshaw pulling. Other hard or demeaning jobs included being [[manual scavenging|night soil cleaners]] and dock workers.<ref name="Suryadinata p. 37" />|group="nb"}}

The rickshaw's popularity in Japan declined by the 1930s with the advent of automated forms of transportation, like automobiles and trains. In China, the rickshaw's popularity began to decline in the 1920s.<ref name="De Mente p. 95" /><ref name=Powerhouse /> In Singapore, the rickshaw's popularity increased into the 20th century. There were approximately 50,000 rickshaws in 1920 and that number doubled by 1930.<ref name="Lu p. 348" />