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Transport in China - coaches (by Dick Gilbert)

Last updated 27 August 2024

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Another visit to some transport from around the world. This time it's a look at the People's Republic of China, and on this page we look at the large fleet of tourist coaches active in that huge country.

I visited China in October 2013, stopping in Shanghai, Xi'an and Beijing. Traditionally the view of China is that it's full of bicycles. That may have been true in the past, but - certainly in the cities - not now. However the heritage of those bicycles means that there are no old cars. Twenty years ago there were hardly any cars at all, so the only really old vehicles around today are a few aged trucks and buses. In fact even the bicycles have been replaced in many cases by electric bikes. These are cheap and subsidised, as part of a government scheme to reduce pollution.

This page is about coaches. Almost without exception, the coaches are modern and home-grown. A few imports were seen, but the most common makes were Yutong, King Long, Higer, Foton and Golden Dragon. I'm sure these names, currently largely unknown in Europe, will start to appear in your high street before long.

YUTONG: Here are a pair of Yutong coaches parked just inside the ancient Xi'an city wall. They belong to the locally-based Chang'an Tourism Motor Coach Company (CTMC). Zhengzhou Yutong Group Co. was established in 1993 and the Yutong Bus factory is located in Zhengzhou City. These coaches are probably the ZK6129H model.

Below we can see a selection of typical tourist coaches seen throughout the cities I visited. They are arranged in alphabetical order of manufacturer (roughly).

ANKAI; We start with a 9-metre Ankai Bus HFF 6902 K56 (they love long designations in China - I suspect that the 6 refers to the number of cylinders, and the 90 means 9.0 metre length), from the fleet of CITS - China International Travel Service, based in Beijing for over 50 years, and this coach is seen here in Beijing. Anhui Ankai Automobile produces buses and coaches at Anhui, in eastern China, and the name Ankai was coined in 1993 to mark the joint venture of a local factory and Kassbohrer from Germany.

This fellow is a bit of an enigma. I believe (going by the BJK designation on the side) that it is a product of the Beijing Municipal Traffic Bus Factory (sometimes known as Beijing Tong, or Beijing Jioatong). It is parked right in the middle of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, which not many vehicles are permitted to do, so I think it has some official function - perhaps a catering or restroom facility for the many police (uniformed and plain-clothed), soldiers and municipal workers who work in the square. I know the factory has built official vehicles in the past, but I've struggled to find out much about them. If anyone can add information, I'd be delighted to hear from you.

FOTON: Next, alphabetically, comes Foton. Beiqi Foton Motor Co makes buses, trucks and farm machinery at their plant near Beijing. This is the new BJ6800 model, described by Foton as a 33-seater intercity or tourist excursion coach, parked near the Xi'an museum on a tour for Chinese nationals.

GOLDEN DRAGON: Xiamen Golden Dragon Bus Co is part of the King Long group of companies, building luxury coaches and light vans at Xiamen in southeast China. This is a Golden Dragon XML6127 (6 cylinders, 12-metre length) coach parked alongside part of the Great Wall of China near Beijing, working for the highly successful Wendy Wu Tours.

HIGER: Higer Bus Co of Suzhou is also part of the King Long Group, and their coaches sometimes wear King Long logos (as opposed to the Higer logo, which looks remarkably like Hyundai!). This splendid beast is a Higer KLQ6125D1 12-metre luxury sleeper coach with a 6-cylinder, 10.5 litre MAN engine. It is parked under the spectacular Xi'an city wall.

JAC: JAC Motors (Jianghuai Automobile Co) is based at Anhui (as is Ankai Bus, with whom they co-operate closely) and is primarily a truck maker, although cars and some coaches are also produced - for example, the Gold Town series of luxury coaches can be seen badged either as Ankai or JAC. This fellow is an HFC6108H 10.5 metre coach, parked in the never-ending Shanghai rain.

KING LONG: Products of the King Long United Automotive, of Xiamen in eastern China, were the most common coaches I saw throughout the parts of China I visited. They make buses, coaches and light vans, and are the parent company of Higer and Golden Dragon. Here we see a King Long XMQ6129Y2 Longwei 12-metre coach near the Beijing section of the Great Wall.

NEOPLAN: The Beijing North Huade Neoplan Coach Co Ltd - North Neoplan - commenced building German Neoplan products under licence in China from 1986, thereby filling (they claim) the blank of producing domestic luxury, and ending the history that our luxury buses can only be imported. This is a BFC6120 2DBA 12-metre tourist coach working for China CYTS Tours, outside a jade factory in Beijing.

SHUCHI: This was the only product of the Yantai Shuchi Vehicle Co (Shuchi Bus of Shandong) that I came across on my journey, as far as I know. The firm was established in 1988 and produces buses, coaches, school buses and motorhomes. This is probably a Shuchi YTK6960B and (as the numbers suggest) it has a 6-cylinder engine and is 9.6 metres long. It is waiting outside the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.

YOUNGMAN: Here we see a very smart pair of Neoplan Euroliner coaches parked by the Xi'an city wall. The specifically Chinese thing about them is they are based on the Youngman JNP6128 chassis. The China Youngman Automobile Group builds cars, buses and trucks in Jinhua, northern China. The firm was established in 2001 and formed joint ventures with Neoplan and MAN in Germany. Youngman is also currently the importer for Lotus Cars from the U. K., and markets locally-made versions under the Youngman-Lotus brand name.

YUTONG: One of Yutong's largest products is the ZK6127HS. This one basks in the sun under the Xi'an city wall.

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