Text: | Print|

Cyclist uses bamboo to change people's mind about bikes

2014-12-23 09:02 Global Times Web Editor: Qian Ruisha
1
David Chin-Fei Wang stands next to bamboo bikes made in the workshops. Photo: Li Hao/GT

David Chin-Fei Wang stands next to bamboo bikes made in the workshops. Photo: Li Hao/GT

"There are nine million bicycles in Beijing / That's a fact / It's a thing we can't deny."

Singer, songwriter Kaite Melua's hit song in 2006, "Nine Million Bicycles" may come to mind when considering cycling in Beijing, but anyone who has zipped along the city's streets in rush hour knows that statistic isn't true today. One man from Boston is looking to change all that.

David Chin-Fei Wang, 28, hopes to encourage more people in Beijing to cycle through Bamboo Bicycle Beijing (BBB), where he hosts workshops on making bamboo bikes.

Wang had the idea for making bamboo bikes at the end of 2012, when he worked for China Youthology, a Beijing-based consumer insights agency. At the time, he was living in a hutong and saw scores of abandoned, old bikes lying around.

"There were a lot of people who locked their bikes there, and then they moved out and forgot about them," he said.

Not wanting the bikes to go to waste, Wang began taking them apart, cleaning them up and reassembling them. One of the first bikes Wang assembled was painted with stripes and returned like new to the hutong where it was found and now is used by his neighbor.

One day, when Wang picked up a sawed-off, rusting, dented aluminum tube, it suddenly occurred to him that it was the same in shape as the bamboo in Ditan Park, and he wondered whether he could begin substituting his aluminum frames with bamboo.

Bamboo bikes are not a new concept, allowing Wang to seek out instructions online that directed him in how to assemble the bikes. The process was surprisingly a simple one, so after constructing his first, he quit his job and launched two-day workshops at Lanjia Hutong, Dongcheng district to teach people how to make their own. To make their bike frames, participants first calculate the measurements of their bike, and then they saw the bamboo and glue the pieces together to construct the frame. Afterwards, they install the wheels and handlebars.

Wang said his ultimate goal is to change people's concept of mobility and through making bamboo bikes, people can form a community and revive the biking subculture.

"There is emphasis on car ownership in China as not only a logistical mean, but a social mean," he said.

In Wang's research on car ownership, he came across one respondent who said he couldn't go to his friend's wedding unless he rented a BMW. Although there were people in his survey who admitted they rode bikes to work, other people complained their peers would look down on them. Other reasons for not cycling included the lack of safe places in Beijing to lock up bikes.

"In the US, there's more and more emphasis on cycling as a transportation need," Wang said. "Now you can be an investment banker and ride your bike to work, and nobody will say anything."

About 100 people have made bicycles at Wang's workshop since its launch and he's considering expanding the workshops to Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, and Hong Kong. Participants range from small children to seniors and come from all walks of life. Some have even become volunteers at BBB.

Mi Sheng, an artist who used to work with Wang, curiously joined a workshop last summer after noticing Wang ordered bamboo on taobao.com, the largest online shopping website in China, at the office. She said she was surprised at how straightforward the process was and originally had thought she wouldn't be capable of making a bike.

Since she made her bike, it became her primary mode of transportation.

"Whenever I rode my bamboo bike, people stopped and looked at me," she said. "It felt good."

Comments (0)
Most popular in 24h
  Archived Content
Media partners:

Copyright ©1999-2018 Chinanews.com. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.