Origins
In 1936, a Japanese businessman built a factory in Tianjin which was named "Changho Works" and started to make "Anchor" bicycles. The brand name was changed to "Victory", and then renamed to "Zhongzi". After the Communists led by Mao Zedong came to power in 1949, the bicycle industry was revived. In April 1949, Chairman Mao's heir apparent, vice president Liu Shaoqi paid a visit to the factory and commanded that it become the first bicycle manufacturer in New China. Their workers were tasked to build a generation of strong, durable, light and beautiful bicycle for New China. On July 5, 1950, the first Flying Pigeon bicycle was produced. It was the brainchild of a worker named Huo Baoji. The name chosen to represent the most prominent bicycle trademark was an expression for peace amidst the raging war in Korea. The current logo is a stylized dove which represents concord and harmony, resting on the initials FP. Previous logos also depicted the dove, or doves, in flight.
Read more about this topic: Flying Pigeon
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“Grown onto every inch of plate, except
Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
The origins of art.”
—Howard Moss (b. 1922)