I first visited China in the spring of '94. Back then, it really was still a 'country of bicycles'. There were bikes in their millions in all the big cities, and they pretty much had the roads to themselves. The number of cars on the road in Beijing is now well over 2,000,000 - it's nearly trebled in the time I've been living here. There are still very large numbers of bicycles, but not so many as a decade or so ago, and they no longer seem to dominate. Now, bicycles on their own can be quite hazardous enough to pedestrians - since nobody has any road sense at all! - but there's something about the interaction between bicycles and motorized traffic we have now that seems to generate new and special hazards. It's a jungle out there!!
Ah, but when bicycles ruled the earth, everything seemed to get along more smoothly, more harmoniously. It could be a magical spectacle at times. And I felt a lot safer.
China Traffic
(in the 'old days')
A collective will,
Synchronous as schooling fish:
Sea of bicycles.
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