It was not long ago that when you thought of China, you thought bicycles. So much so in fact, that it was the Chinese example of walls and walls of of cyclists flowing so well together in Ted White's film "Return of the Scorcher", that helped give rise to the Critical Mass movement all over the world. While this was the China we thought we knew, as we saw here last month, cars are becoming its ruler king. And the country is at near gridlock from too many cars.
What's worse, in Hong Kong, a city of seven million people, conditions for cyclists are so bad the governemnt does not want people riding bicycles on its streets. Though China was under British rule until 1997 and was never a biking city, in following China's lead, it makes sense that its terrible relationship with cyclists has been allowed to deteriorate to the level it has.
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