"The East is Red", says the revolutionary anthem, but try finding a red car in China.
For automakers designing and producing vehicles for the booming Chinese market - the fastest growing in the world - local tastes are critical, including the notion that red is reserved for special occasions such as weddings.
"Very seldom do you see a red vehicle in production," says Tom Wilson, strolling past the assembly line of General Motors joint venture plant in Shanghai, where he is plant manager.
At least half of the cars and vans coming off the line at the Shanghai plant are black, signifying prestige and wealth,while only one to two per cent are red, Wilson said. The only exception to the rule is Beijing's taxi fleet, the vast majority of which is red.
For years, except for the very wealthy who could afford expensive luxury imports, Chinese consumers had little choice in new cars. The streets of Shanghai are crowded with Volkswagen Santanas, an older model not sold in Germany for about two decades, but manufactured and sold in China.
Now the Chinese car market is exploding. Sales in China recently overtook Germany to become the third-largest market in the world, and as competition grows, automakers are modifying their models to suit Chinese tastes.
That goes beyond the colour red. "It's very clear that the Chinese consumer wants what is modern, and what is high-tech, and is not prepared to take hand-me-downs," says Ford chief operating officer Nick Scheele.
Car designs that draw upon China's rich mythology appeal to Chinese consumers, says James Shyr, GM China's director of design.
A legendary Chinese fish that transforms into an enormous bird served as the inspiration for a concept car called the Kunpeng CAV, unveiled this year by the PATAC design studio in Shanghai.
Feng shui concepts of symmetry mixed with traditional Chinese impressions of grace and power will also influence future car designs, says Shyr.
Unlike the US and European markets, where sport utility vehicles are increasingly popular, Chinese associate SUVs with the military trucks and farming vehicles that have dominated Chinese roads over the past 70 years, according to Shyr.
"Chinese prefer a traditional "three box" saloon shape for cars, not unlike the shape of the shoulder-carried palanquins in which the nobility travelled in previous centuries."