Occasionally I'll run across a story that the Chinese are gradually giving up bicycles as a prime source of transportation in favor of cars. Bikes lanes are converted to car lanes, and health problems, like obesity, are on the rise.
Apparently there are still plenty of people riding bicycles to work, but not as many as before. Oh well, such is the price of Westernization, or modernization, or industrialization.
Now there's a new trend in China. The People's Daily reports that people are bicycling for “exercise and entertainment.” The news outlet interviewed some people who bicycled from their faraway hometowns to attend the Tour of Hainan, a six-day bicycle stage race.
“China, known as “Kingdom of Bicycles”, owns the largest number of bicycles in the world, with the highest productivity. But the bicycle has long been regarded as a vehicle …
With the promotion of people's living standards, entertaining sports become popular in China. Cycling, popular in developed countries, is getting beloved by more and more Chinese, old and young, for its convenience.”
The newspaper interviewed one of the folks who bicycled from Beijing to Hainan in southernmost China to view the bicycle race. He said retired people are joining the Urumchi Bicycle Club for “outing and travelling.” Personally, this 58-year-old man puts in some 6,000 miles a year on his bike.
Related to the growth of bicycling in China for exercise and sport, the Discovery Channel pro cycling team has hired its first Chinese cyclist, Fuyu Li. It also has set up a partnership with his team, the Marco Polo Cycling Team.
The Marco Polo team is one those competing in the inaugural Tour of Hainan, which will cover 533 miles over six stages.
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