A White Hafei Minivan In Beijing

This is a personally historical photo because it was the first photo I took with my brand new China-made Nokia telephone, which I got in the great year of 2003. Photo quality was still far worse compared to a real camera, which I  always carried with me until 2012, when I deemed the iPhone good enough for street pics.

The picture shows a typical street not far from my home in the Dongzhimen area, with 1970’s 6-floor apartment buildings on the left side. It must have been winter, the trees are leafless and the air looks cold. A woman in a brown jacket tried to ruin my picture but failed.

The Hafei minivan is still clearly visible. It is a standard-roof passenger variant. The blue 京A license plate indicate this is a very early privately owned car. Blue A’s are very rare nowadays but back in 2003 I had no idea about that. May I be able to look into the future in my next Hafei life.

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