Photo by Mark Green / The Urban Country
In China it’s not uncommon for bicycles to carry an inordinate amount of cargo. When I visited Beijing in 2007 I saw bicycles carrying loads of vegetables that would make a dump truck driver envious.
This picture was snapped the other day by The Urban Country’s China correspondent Mark Green in Shanghai, China.
Mark says this particular cargo load was stacked more than 10 feet deep:
“It’s pretty common to see ridiculously high stacked bikes here, but this one caught my attention because of the way the driver seat is cut out, reducing visibility to about 70 degrees. Extra body armour I suppose.”
That’s what I love about the Chinese. They can make practical use out of almost anything, and very little goes to waste. They always manage to find a way to re-use almost everything.
While most people in China yearn for the western luxuries that we enjoy here in North America, many of us in North America yearn for the pragmatic lifestyles of many of the Chinese.
We’re at a paradoxical point in time. Chinese cities on the verge of being overtaken by the automobile, and western cities on the verge of being overtaken by bicycles.
The small decisions we make now will have an enormous effect on future generations.
James D. Schwartz is the editor of The Urban Country. You can contact James atjames.schwartz@theurbancountry.com.
Check out these related articles:
- Bike Sharing in the Car Capital of the World? (Jan 2010)
- Forgetting About the Joneses (Jan 2010)
- Living a Comfortable Life Sans Automobile (Oct 2009)
Pingback: The Urban Country Goes to China ← The Urban Country
Pingback: Future Bicyclist & Cargo Bikes ← The Urban Country