Shanghai Cycle Chic 10

All photos by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country

During my recent trip to China I was fortunate enough to spend a few days in Shanghai. Before I went to China, I promised Mikael Colville-Andersen that I would snap some photos of “Cycle Chic” action while biking around Shanghai.

Mikael popularized the term “Cycle Chic” in his blog Copenhagen Cycle Chic which he started 3 years ago. The Cycle Chic movement has now spread across the globe – but unfortunately nobody has started a “Shanghai Cycle Chic” blog at the time of this writing (The Urban Country is blocked within China, so the people of Shanghai won’t be able to view this post)

Cycle Chic means different things for different people. To me, it’s riding your bike in your regular clothes – be it your work clothes, your clubbing clothes, or your Sunday attire – whatever it is that you happen to be wearing.

It’s about riding with style and without the requisite of any pretentious clothing or gear.

As evidenced in my recent article Utility Cycling in China, the bicycle is a tool in China that serves a useful purpose. It gets people from A to B fast. It’s convenient to park, it’s inexpensive and it’s healthy.

The following photos illustrate how regular people in their regular attire use bicycles for transportation in Shanghai:

Happiness is in the air:

Don’t look, but your shoe laces are untied!

I didn’t put that smog there:

They have cowboys in China too you know:

White shoes, white bike:

They have Dutch bikes in China too you know:

Cyclists, please dismount before crossing the road:

Searching for a sale:

Hey van, would you like to race?

Fold it or lock it? Lock it…

This bike was made for them’ heels:

Productive day:

School pickup and grocery stop:

Peek-a-boo, I see you:

Matching purple bike:

Matching grey bike:

Waiting patiently:

Staying cool:

The sit-up cycle revolution:

James D. Schwartz is the editor of The Urban Country. You can contact James at james.schwartz@theurbancountry.com.

Stay tuned – more articles from my 3-week trip to China are on the way (even though I’m back in Toronto, there is more China to come)

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Anonymous

Great photos. Shanghai looks like a nice place to cycle. Very smooth roads and sweet bikes!
http://www.blogger.com/profile/04454437680686627778 James D. Schwartz

It is a great place to ride. You don’t have to worry too much about motorists due to the vast segregated cycle tracks.

It’s far more pleasant than cycling here in Toronto.

But we are working to fix that
http://www.blogger.com/profile/12067572298987454401 mega1e

This comment has been removed by the author.
http://www.blogger.com/profile/12067572298987454401 Eric Wan

Hi Jim,
Your website looks absolutely awesome! I connected easily with all your articles and could see that we speak the same language lol
I’m a commuter cyclist from Vancouver, and it’s really cool to see a Canadian website dedicated to cycling, sustainable growth and transportation.
I think with Bike To Work Week coming up, I can see more and more people riding in everyday fashion.
I’m originally from Wuhan, China, and moved 9 years ago. Looking at your photos, I’m slowly remembering the streets and caught myself surprised about the wide use of bicycles/tricycles/etc back in China. In recent years, most of the blogs I’ve read are focusing on European streets and how great they are for cycling, but it’s really Asian too. I’m hoping China will reverse the trend of prohibiting bicycles on main trendy streets starting in the late 90s and instead advertise cycling as a chic way of moving. (I’m sure the government is pro at propaganda, lol.)

I don’t know if you have seen this video, but it’s really neat.
http://www.streetfilms.org/cycle-chic-in-copenhagen-and-beyond/
Thanks for your cool photos.
Eric Wan, Vancouver
http://www.blogger.com/profile/17948774650181520591 Crankyputz

Beautiful Pics, glad to see your doing well!
http://www.blogger.com/profile/10510514405099510918 Michael

James, great photos. It’s interesting that virtually everyone is a sit-up bike. Was that your choice or how it looked?

Also not a single helmet. Do you know what the bike accident stats are?

Anyway, well done. Mike
http://www.blogger.com/profile/04454437680686627778 James D. Schwartz

@Eric, thanks for coming by. I’m glad I could stir up some memories of China for you. It’s a really interesting country that is changing extremely fast.

I think the reason China isn’t advertised as a bike haven is because historically the Chinese used bikes out of necessity, whereas in some European countries, they choose bikes even though they could afford automobiles.

@Cranky, thanks for dropping in – I’ve been keeping an eye on you too

@Mike, virtually all of the bikes I saw in China were the sit-up style bikes and some mountain bikes. Out of the thousands and thousands of bicycles I saw, I only saw about 5 “racing” cyclists in lycra and helmets. Almost nobody wears helmets – with the notable exception of the Pizza Hut and KFC delivery men (check those photos out in my article “Utility Cycling in China” and Mikael’s subsequent comment.

I haven’t found any accident statistics in China – I doubt they are publicized in the same way they are in western countries. Accidents do happen there for sure, but it would be interesting to compare to North American cities indeed.
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