棒棒军

choi

Porters in Chongqing | Bang Bang, I Hit the Ground; The decline of a great urban institution. Economist, Apr 16, 2016.
http://www.economist.com/news/ch ... last-days-stick-men

Note:
(a) In the title ("Bang Bang, I Hit the Ground"), "bang" is an English word (imitative in origin), not the Chinese word 棒.
(b) "The bangbang brigade 棒棒军 is unique to Chongqing and an emblem of the city (also once distinguished for the rarity of bicycles; as China gets richer, they are becoming rarer everywhere)."
(c) "Zhou Xuexin, dean of the Chongqing Economic and Social Development Institute"

周学馨 (女，中共重庆市委党校、重庆行政学院经济社会发展研究所所长)
(d) "According to a documentary made in 2015 for state television, the city had over 300,000 stick men in the late 1990s. Now there are only 3,000. * * * It also reflects improvements in urban infrastructure. When roads were unpaved and buildings lacked lifts, brawn was the only way to move goods up and down the steep hills and into tower blocks. But with better roads and more modern buildings, that is no longer true. Delivery companies with young men on motorcycles have taken over"