Shanghai Bikes;

Shanghai, a city of 24 million, a marketbased metropolitan-faced 24 million,

has adopted a child. It began in 1868,
and the childsactually, the products

name is:

the bicycle. As a traditionally western

product,

the bike may have been out of place

upon arriving in this Chinese city. But
Shanghais unique conglomeration of
Bike in front of building, Shanghai, China. Personal photograph by author. 2015.

cultures and progressing globalization

has allowed the bike to grow along
with Shanghai, developing to become
a product of the city itself. While
conducting research in Shanghai in January of 2015, I found is that bicycles grew alongside
Shanghais eastern-western consumerist culture, that consumers of bikes in this eastern-western
city have not lost their consumerist identity, and that 21st century bike consumers changing
perception of time, money, and social status have decreased the overall affection for bikes in
Shanghai. To further elaborate, the bike arrived as a western product in Shanghai at the same
time as the beginnings of western trade and commerce. It grew in numbers as Shanghais
population grew in numbers. Bikes became integrated to Shanghainese life, its purchase and
purpose no longer western, and instead uniquely Shanghainese. However, in recent years, the
value of bikes has decreased in the face of Shanghais size and globalization.

The Rise of Bikes in Shanghai

Bikes have been in Shanghai for as long as westerners have, playing a part in this easternwestern city over time as native Shanghainese have adopted this invention as their own. Let us
set up Shanghai as eastern-western. Stereotypically, Chinese villages feature agriculture,
markets, pagodas, and tea. 21st century Shanghai acts not only as Chinese but as a place where
many cultures interact. When I observed the city in January of 2015, commercialized western
culture lined the streets. Burger King, Starbucks, Victorias Secret, and more were selling and
advertising in both Chinese and English. These same streets are lined with run down, traditional
Shanghainese markets where locals fiercely bargained for daily goods. Next to these markets,
apartment buildings sported American brand-name clothing air-drying on bamboo racks. The
wonderful and sometimes ugly mixture of multiple cultures products and lifestyles converging
in one place makes Shanghai somewhere between Chinese and Western. Whats fascinating is
that this eastern-western dynamic began just as the first slew of westerners carried bikes into
Shanghai in the late 1860s. However, the bike started as an exotic foreign item, where only
wealthy European aristocrats would wobble around on them for sheer entertainment. As the
British, German, and French gained control and began to develop Shanghai as an international
trading port, Shanghais population started to blossom and bikes lost their novelty and became
relatively commonplace (Entenmann, History Lecture). Their use only grew during the SinoJapanese War fuel shortage (1937-1945) and by the time communist reforms came to an end in
the 1980s, the number of bicycles in the city grew four fold within a decade (Xu, History of the
Bicycle and Chinese Cyclists). Recovering from Maos reign, China as a whole took a more
economic outlook and focused on building up their empire in a forwards facing globalized
way. Skyscrapers began to litter Shanghais horizon and the population of the city itself grew

from thousands to millions and millions. With the rise of population and the need for convenient
travel, by 1996 one in two Shanghai residents owned a bike while only one in one thousand
owned a car (Walter Hook, Motorized and Non-motorized Transport in Asia). Within one
hundred years, this two wheeled vehicle transformed from a western commodity to an integral
part of the hustle and bustle of Shanghainese life, growing as a product within an increasingly
consumerist and western culture. For a long while, China was known affectionately as the
kingdom of bicycles, or (Wetherhold, The Bicycle as Symbol of Chinese
Transformation). All the way through the 20th century the popularity of bicycles in Shanghai
grew in positive correlation to the size of Shanghai itself.
The Bike as a Consumer Item
It is important to further outline how the modern Shanghai consumer is defined by the purchase
of a bicycle in Shanghai, given that Shanghai houses many cultures. Streets in the commercial
district are riddled with KFCs and Starbucks, with English translations featured on practically
every sign. This gives the impression that during colonization in the late 1800s, Europe brought
over their consumerism and Shanghai consumers will never truly have their own consumerist
identity. However, this impression is far from the truth. While Shanghai is riddled with western
products, such as the bicycle, its residents still act as cultured consumers, i.e., Shanghai
consumers. As scholar Trentmann notes, The consumer, like class or citizen or nation, is
no natural or universal category but rather the product of historical identity formations in which
actors through available traditions make sense of the relationship between material culture and
collective identity. Under this definition, the man who walks into a shop to buy a bike in
Chicago, U.S.A. acts as a different consumer than the man who buys a bike in Shanghai. The
meaning of riding a bike in Shanghai is informed by the history of the bike in Shanghai (as

illustrated previously) and the process of buying a bike in modern Shanghai depends on the
current culture of city itself. While the two men are both buying a

traditionally

western product, they are acting as consumers who live in

cities with their own unique cultural history and identity.
Buying a western bike only matters in so much as how
much western value each of the men attributes to the
bike, and does not change the mens inherent consumerist

identities.

The Value of the Bicycle in 21st Century Shanghai

Shanghai consumers also attribute cost value, time
value, and social value to bicycles, all values that have

Specialized Bike advertisement on subway,

Shanghai, China. Personal photograph taken
by author. 2015.

changed in the 21st century to give bikes a slightly jaded

reputation. While the bicycle has held a strong presence in
Shanghai for the past hundred-some years, when I
traveled to the city January of 2015 to interview residents, some shared stories of how the overall
value of owning a bike in Shanghai has recently decreased. A visiting college student, Yiling,
who moved to Shanghai to attend East China Normal University notes that,
When I was very little, we would bike to school. It was very convenient, but in
Shanghai, most people do not use bikes because the city is so big and wide. [Other forms
of] public transportation in Shanghai are very convenient, you can go anywhere really.

This striking comment demonstrates Yilings bike values. She used to use a bike for its efficiency
and convenience, but now that she lives in Shanghai, she feels that the citys sheer size
discourages bike commuting when subways or taxis could get you their faster and easier. Her
classmate, Wangxing, illustrates the same sentiment when she says,

"I

use public transportation. (laughs) As a college student

public transportation is very cheap, you can save
money. Almost every day we leave school campus,
we all use buses, use subways, use we every day
all use [public transportation], because Shanghai is
very big, so you must use public transportation.
Comparatively you save time."

Wangxing understands her position as a Shanghainese

college student gives
Subway Platform, Shanghai, China.
Photograph taken by the author. 2015.

her access to timesaving and money-

saving modes of transport,

which are not a

bicycles but rather buses or

subways. Interviewing

these two women showed me that not all of Shanghais residents identify with the historic twowheeled vehicle, and see it as more of an outdated way to get around the quickly expanding city.
Interviewing college-aged people helped me understand where the city was headed in terms of
transportation. It was clear to me that the consumer values of cost and time were no longer stably
sitting on the saddle of a bike. Even the social value of riding a bike has decreased, as the rise of
Shanghais middle class is purchasing more personal vehicles such as cars, taking a step into
luxury. As my third interviewee, Mungxi, mentions,
Some Shanghainese people go places by car; but I know Shanghainese, Shanghainese,
when they go out, they like to use public transportation. However, the people who have
money, they dont like crowds. They like to only use cars, but during rush hour it takes
longer by car than by subway.

The costs of consuming certain items like cars may include money and time, but for these folks it
is worth the sacrifice for personal space. As popular Chinese magazine Caixin, or ,

mentions in their recent article about the decrease of bikes in Beijing, Now many urbanites
profess that they would rather cry in a BMW than smile on the back of a bike, a sentiment that is
hard to overcome amongst China's rapidly expanding middle class. The shifting bike-values for
Shanghai residents in the past 15 years is apparent even when walking the streets of Shanghai.
When I strolled through various districts (Jingan, Changning, French Concession, etc.), I counted
many more mopeds, cars, subway users and pedestrians than bikes. It amazed me, seeing as how
all the signs and stereotypes Id understood up until that point professed that bikes are all the
rage in China. It seems that Shanghais current development may hold less room for bicycles
than it did not even two decades ago.
The Bike in Future Shanghai
Bikes are products whose use and value changes along with the culture of Shanghai. As we have
seen, up until recently bicycles have grown in numbers along with Shanghais population. Now
that the city has reached such a high population and geographical size, bikes may have lost their
shine. Cars are arguably the new bike in Shanghai, not in their capacity to transport people, but
in the prestige they carry as western powerful products. My experiences in Shanghai reflect such
statements, but are limited to the mere three weeks I spent there. More interviews would have to
be recorded, and more time spent observing this huge city in order to fully grasp the concept of a
dying bicycle culture. However, the bike will always have a place in Shanghai. Regardless of its
efficiency compared to other modes of transport, it will continue to be a cheap and
environmentally friendly option. With pressing pollution issues affecting Shanghai as a city more
and more each day, its possible that this lull of bicycles is only temporary. Until then, bike
commuters will continue to ride into Shanghais future.

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