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Beijing cyclist blocks car 3x2 (source Weibo)“Brave” expat cyclist blocks car using Beijing cycle lane in one-man demonstration
Social media users in China have applauded a “brave” foreign cyclist who blocked a car being driven on a segregated bike lane in capital city Beijing.
Pictures of the cyclist engaged in his protest were posted to Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, on Saturday, reports the South China Morning Post.
Since then, they have gone viral, with the one above being shared more nearly 44,000 times.
The unknown cyclist, assumed to be an expatriate worker, is seen in the series of pictures standing in front of the black saloon car, the driver of which seemed to be trying to use it to beat one of the city’s notorious traffic jams.
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The Weibo user who posted the photographs said: “Today on Yaojiayuan Road I saw this scene: a foreigner insisted on stopping cars in the bike lane from passing! Resolute attitude, I am very touched!”
Others praised the cyclist, with one saying: “I hope more Chinese learn from this brave expat to stand out and say no to bad habits.”
One commenter expressed admiration for the cyclist, but sympathy too for the driver, saying: “The brave foreigner deserves our respect [for standing up to the bike lane driver], but the traffic on the road is to blame for the driver’s violation.”
Another queried what would have happened had the cyclist been Chinese, however, reflecting that “if it were not a laowai [foreigner], I bet he/she who stands in front of the car would be beaten up.”
Shannon Bufton, who co-founded Beijing bike advocacy group Smarter Than Car, told the South China Morning Post: “Cars are all over the bike lanes in Beijing,” adding that the city “is overrun by cars.”
While he acknowledged that some of the city’s drivers exhibited “pretty horrible” behaviour, he said “at least there’s bike lanes in the first place.”
The newspaper says that’s a common problem facing bike riders in Beijing, which now has more than 5 million cars, with ownership continuing to grow at a frenetic pace alongside China’s burgeoning economy.
Across China, more private cars were added to the country’s vehicle population in 2012 than there were in total in 1999, according to a Bloomberg report from January last year.
In 2013, it became the first country to see sales of all types of vehicles exceed 20 million, up 14 per cent on 2012.
Motoring has become a political issue, however, with many blaming the rise in vehicle ownership for smog and air pollution, as well as gridlock.
Since 2011, Beijing’s city government has limited the number of new vehicle registrations through a lottery system.
In August 2013, some 1.6 million applications were made for just 20,000 licence plates available that month – meaning the odds against securing one were 80 to 1.
In response, city authorities have attempted to encourage people back onto bikes through introducing a bike-share scheme as well as cycle lanes.
However, uptake of the former has reportedly been very disappointing compared to other Chinese cities, while as this story highlights, encroachment of motorists on the latter remains a major problem.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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19 comments
Cycle lanes there are actually dominated by electric scooters. These are really scary because they are silent and generally have no functional lights. I know expats who cycle there but I would not be brave enough myself, the culture of road use is entirely different. The locals seem to do crazy things to get where they want to go, but I think are much more careful not to hurt anyone while doing so. For example virtually no bikes have lights. One workmate swears that after nearly being hit several times at night, he felt safer with no lights and removed them!
The locals are tougher, though- they block tanks.
I was on a bus today that was held up by cars in a bus lane at a time it was operational. I pondered what I would have done if I was on my bike. I decided I would try to put myself just in front of a car and not let it move forwards in the bus lane.
I am reminded of a time I was cycling on a clearly signed and marked contra-flow cycle lane. A van coming the other way decided to drive in the cycle lane to overtake a queue of traffic. He stopped. I didn't give way as I was in no hurry. There was nowhere for him to go as the traffic he had overtaken wouldn't let him in, and they couldn't see why he had stopped. After a few minutes someone let him in. Another driver shouted at me that I was going the wrong way!
I have a national Geographic from the early 1990's showing the streets of Beijing when they were still ruled by the bicycle. Whole families on one bike. Blokes with towering cages full of ducks. Traffic jams of bicycles with no fumes... Progress eh?
Perhaps he should try this with the Chinese government not its citizens and see how he gets on.
It just goes to show that segregation only works when legislation, enforcement and attitudes allign. Just chucking up a barrier/putting down paint and letting people do whatever they want won't cut it.
that cycle lane looks much better than the 30cm of shitty paint we get in this country.
@vbvb: so far, every time I've traveled along the new cycle paths it has been late enough that there have been no other users - all but 2 of the bollards are now gone, though, so I suspect you're right.
I think there are probably a few twitter pics like this of Edinburgh George Street's new cycle-only roadway.
@GrahamSt: that whooshing sound is the last dying gasp of your irony-o-meter. Suggest you get it looked at...
To be honest, even with cars occupying them, the cycling provisions look better, in those photos, than the UK...
Top man. But what's "a segregated bike lane"...?
Exactly what it shows in the second picture?
A cycle lane on the road, but segregated from the other traffic by a physical barrier.
Not reported how it was resolved, I'm guessing the bloke taking the pictures had moved on a bit in traffic by the time the second vehicle got there. But you can see the fence between the lane and the main carriageway can be moved, so hopefully the drivers were persuaded to move across through the gap?
The quote mentions the rider stopped "cars", so that second one may have also been blocked for a while.
“Today on Yaojiayuan Road I saw this scene: a foreigner insisted on stopping cars in the bike lane from passing!
I want to know how this ended. Mexican stand-offs don't go on forever
How was this stand-off resolved? I notice another car coming down the lane at the top of the picture also...
What happened when the car further down the lane reached them?
I do like the well mannered users of the Weibo network. Are the quotes very selective, or is trolling a rarity for the Chinese?
I'm sure things will improve for the cyclists of Beijing, now that China has it's own version of Top Gear. They can recreate that cycling episode.
Well done that man.