China: Rickshaw puller with well-to-do client, Shanghai, 1947

Rickshaws (or rickshas) are a mode of human-powered transport: a runner draws a two-wheeled cart which seats one or two persons. In recent times the use of rickshaws has been discouraged or outlawed in many countries due to concern for the welfare of rickshaw workers.

The word 'rickshaw' originates from the Japanese word jinrikisha, which literally means 'man-powered vehicle'. In 1874, The word jinricksha / jinrikisha was first published in the Oxford English Dictionary.

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