Locked up

These 'trolleys' are everywhere in Harbin. They are usually covered with very fresh fruit or vegetables. I always wondered how they were secured and today I found out.

In the summer, it's not uncommon to see the vendor sleeping on or under his fruit stand for the night. I suppose it saves time with having to drag the fruit into a shop or apartment every day and then drag it back out the next day. Some of them also come from outside the city to earn better money and so they have no place to sleep except there. But now it's winter and the temp outside at night is always around -15 so that's not an option. And so to the picture...

You can see these things are huge and heavy and as with most other type of street vendor they are on wheels. Its common to see an elderly person pushing a fully laden trolley up a street or even on a main road. This one however is empty and to stop it from bgeing stolen, you can see how it is 'attached' to the tree. The 'lock' is made mostly from old building reinforcement welded together with various types of metal and I am sure some super glue and chewing gum. There is a padlock inside the box at the bottom and when released the whole thing comes off.