ABSTRACT
During the Maoist era, substantial sums were allocated to building urban infrastructure in China segregating bicycles and slow-moving vehicles from motorized vehicles. This was accompanied by development of a large domestic bicycle manufacturing sector, creating what has been dubbed the ‘Kingdom of Bicycles’. Post-Maoist China has seen the rise of automobility, with rapid growth of car ownership and a shift to collections and deliveries by motorized vehicles. Transport infrastructure in Beijing has not been able to keep pace with rising car ownership, despite a huge investment in roads, expressways, and urban transit systems, resulting in frequent congestion and periodically severe atmospheric pollution. Motorists have put pressure on cycling spaces, including demands to convert cycling lanes for motor vehicles and exclude cycles from spaces to which they formerly had access. But congestion and pollution have forced planners to resist, and rethink the role of cycles. Recently, there has been a rising interest in recreational riding, e-bikes have become very popular, bike-sharing has rapidly expanded on campuses and in the city, and bicycles and tricycles have found new commercial niches, including delivering online purchases and hot meals to working couples.
