China’s two-wheeled adventurers are taking to the hills as Chinese cities adopt public bike schemes.
In 1980, China was dubbed the “Kingdom of Bicycles” and was home to the world’s largest fleet of cyclists. Much popular culture, such as the film Beijing Bicycle by Wang Xiaoshuai or the song “Nine Million Bicycles in Beijing” by Katie Melua, has celebrated the two-wheeled contraptions.
Could cycling regain its old popularity? Image: Michael Davis-Burchat |
Now, since Hangzhou became a pilot city for a government-subsidised bike sharing system in 2008, scores of cities across the nation have joined the race to become more eco-friendly and re-stimulate the popularity of cycling.
The Hangzhou Public Bicycle Transportation Development Co, which celebrates its Fifth Anniversary of the sharing scheme this year, employed 155 bike mechanics that maintain the city’s 70,000 public bicycles.
The system has now grown to over 697,000 bicycles at 2,960 pubic stations around the city, which is home to around 8.8m people.
While all other programs nationwide are funded solely by government subsidies, Hangzhou’s scheme runs on a CO2 emissions exchange business. According to the China Beijing Environment Exchange, nine randomly selected service stations in the city were responsible for a reduction of 616mt of CO2 emissions in 2010, which the company was able to sell to local corporations for 21,000 yuan ($3,400).
Now dozens of Chinese cities, including some of China’s most polluted connurbations such as Wuhan, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, are hoping to replicate the western Chinese city’s success with similar CO schemes.
Hot on the heels of the Tour de France, the world's most famous cycling road race, two of China’s citizens have performed extraordinary feats on two wheels and three legs.
Liao Jingwen cycled solo for 1,200km from her university in Xi’an to her hometown in Yichun, Jiangxi province. The gruelling journey lasted 16 days in the scorching sun, with the temperature frequently breaking the forties.
Meanwhile, one-legged athlete Wang Yonghai completed the 2013 tour of Qinghai Lake, widely held as one of China’s toughest courses. The tour spans 2002km at an average altitude of 2,496m, no mean achievement for any cyclist. Crowds cheered Wang, who lost his leg at the age of 19 after a traffic accident, as he passed the finish line ahead of his projected time.