All photos by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country
Earlier this month I posted 30 photos of Utility Cycling in China. That post generated a lot of interest because like me, you are probably intrigued by how the Chinese use their bicycles for practical purposes – like pizza delivery, garbage pickup, cargo shipping, etc.
On my last day in China I stayed for one final day in Shanghai – snapping dozens of photos for the Shanghai Cycle Chic article. I couldn’t resist taking more photos of people using their bicycles for utility purposes – so this article is a collection of 19 more photos from my final day in Shanghai.
Enjoy!
Bicycles for transporting… dead palm tree leaves
Bicycles for transporting… water for flowers
Bicycles for transporting… lots of chairs (well, this isn’t really a bicycle, but it has bicycle wheels and I couldn’t not show you this fascinating photo)
Bicycles for transporting… cabinets
Bicycles for transporting… Styrofoam
Bicycles for transporting… Styrofoam for the family
Bicycles for transporting… Styrofoam for friends
Bicycles for transporting… Styrofoam for foes
Bicycles for transporting… Styrofoam for the in-laws
Bicycles for transporting… okay, I think that’s enough Styrofoam
Bicycles for transporting… pets
Bicycles for transporting… mail
Bicycles for transporting… cardboard
Bicycles for transporting… people and their luggage
Bicycles for transporting… people and their kids
Bicycles for transporting… tall bags of something
Bicycles for transporting… wide bags of something else
Bicycles for transporting… bicycles (again, this isn’t a bicycle, but I still wanted to share it)
James D. Schwartz is the editor of The Urban Country. You can contact James atjames.schwartz@theurbancountry.com.
This is the final article in the “China series” – resulting from my 3-week trip to China this month.
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What is also interesting is the musculature of people biking – In Beijing in 1988 I saw men transporting coal on bikes – little skinny men – check out the legs of the Chinese bicyclists in shorts – nothing. If you look at American bicycle racers from the waist down in spandex all you see is muscle. To me, the Chinese should be all muscle also – but they are not – don’t know why –
Great pictures! In these pictures and in some from your previous posts, some of your ‘subjects’ notice you taking a photo of them and they don’t look too happy – makes the picture even better!
@Anon – I think big muscles are a western thing. I would say most of those American racers probably visit the gym frequently.
@boyan, the lady with the dog in the basket doesn’t look happy in the photo – but I think she was just trying to figure out why I was taking photos. After I snapped the shot I waved at her and she gave me a big smile back.
I like the pictures.It only shows that even how high tech. we are these days we are still indulging into activities like cycling that would benefit our health and our environment. It is such a nice thing that we doesn’t only do cycling for cycling training but also as a means of livelihood.
I like the pictures.It only shows that even how high tech. we are these days we are still indulging into activities like cycling that would benefit our health and our environment. It is such a nice thing that we doesn’t only do cycling for cycling training but also as a means of livelihood.
great photos and captions…