The crash happened in Xining, during the first day of the international cycling competition. Remarkably, police report that just six competitors were injured.

As a result of the crash, one official has already been sacked, and two levels of the City’s Disciplinary Inspection Department will launch an investigation into the allegedly negligent handling by police in controlling the area.

The pedestrian, who didn’t think to look both ways before crossing the street, was escorted away by police in the aftermath of the crash. The People’s Daily reported that witnesses thought the man “probably suffers from a mental disorder”.

The Tour de Qinghai Lake is an international bicycle race lasting for 30 days. Stretching through three provinces, Qinghai, Gansu, and Ningxia, the course is 1,921 kilometers.

Here are more photos of the crash:

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Beijing has long been known as the city of bicycles, but with China’s economic boom and desire for car ownership, there has been a steady decline in bicycle use over the past 15 years. To reverse the trend, the Beijing Commission of Transportation said the nation’s capital has cancelled roadside parking on all auxiliary roads less than nine meters wide, which will be replaced by dedicated bicycle lanes that will be both painted and fenced-off.

Nearly 250 kilometers of bicycle lanes in nine locations will be upgraded, including those on or near the Second Ring Road, Nanluoguxiang and Shichahai area, the Olympic Center, and the Zhongguancun West area.

To ensure the exclusivity of bicycle lanes, law enforcement will be increased against parking in bike lanes and more video cameras will be installed to “enhance supervision”.

Another 50,000 bicycles will also be available for rent by the end of the year with the goal that 18 percent of Beijingers commute to work by bicycle by 2020.  Currently, only 12 percent of Beijing residents bike to work, down from 38 percent in 2000.

“In recent years, the quickly increasing number of vehicles in the city have severely reduced the space for bicycles on the road and threaten the safety of cyclists,” said Zhou Zhengyu, chief of the transportation commission. “If we can ensure those car owners switch to bicycling, then we can significantly reduce road gridlock.”

In addition to these new bicycle policies, Beijing drivers face numerous obstacles.

Besides being the most congested city with the worst traffic in China, Beijing drivers are faced with purchasing their car licenses through a lottery system with skyrocketing prices, forced to buy a parking spot before they are allowed to buy a car, and are prone to car restrictions for important international events that limit car use by almost half.

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In the early eighties, just after the PRC had opened to the capitalist West, bicycles symbolized the differences between urban China and urban “us”. I remember magazine articles on Beijing and Shanghai that featured images of hundreds of Chinese citizens biking to (or from) work, school, the market. At the time, Shenzhen had just been established and rarely featured in these articles, except as an example of the extent to which China was changing. From its establishment, however, Shenzhen pursued modernization with an eye to non-Chinese cities. Accordingly, The Shenzhen urban plan deliberately excluded bicycle lanes; Shenzhen’s modernity would be defined by car ownership.the Shenzhen urban plan deliberately excluded bicycle lanes; Shenzhen’s modernity would be defined by car ownership. I’ve heard that by the mid-1990s, per capita car ownership in Shenzhen had surpassed that of Hong Kong. Certainly, the total number of vehicles cruising Shenzhen streets has surpassed the number in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, bicycles remain a common mode of transportation in the city. Many workers still bike and many businesses depend upon bicycle delivery. Indeed, throughout the city, usually nestled under an overpass, individuals set up bicycle repair shops. For one or two yuan, a tire puncture can be repaired, breaks tightened, or chains oiled.

Given their exclusion from the urban plan, bikers often compete with pedestrians for passageways through the city. I have often bumped into bikes or been bumped as bikers rush to their next destination. Nevertheless, I didn’t associate bikes with the city. If I’m any example of how folks have come to inhabit Shenzhen, then the municipality’s urban planners have successfully banished bikes and bikers from mental maps of the city. Or rather, bikes and bikers crash into our consciousness only to the extent that they interrupt normal traffic. All this to say that I have been in Shenzhen for ten years, and am just starting to realize how vast the overlooked landscape might be and how misleading these pictures probably are. Consider them evidence of an emerging awarenss of, rather than reliable data about Shenzhen.

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The Shenzhen Municipal Transportation and Transport Committee has partnered with the Futian local government to build a bike path that crosses North Ring Road at the Xinzhou overpass. The overpass will include a roof to provide shelter for pedestrians.

Scheduled to start construction next year, the plan also includes designated bike trails running from Meilin to the downtown core. Car lanes along Hongli Road will be narrowed in order to facilitate the bike lane.

Here are some photos of what the new addition will look like:

Related:

• Shenzhen Named Mainland China’s Most Pedestrian-Friendly City
• Shenzhen to Build Hong Kong-style Pedestrian Walkways

Photos: Shenzhen Traffic Police

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READ: Chinese Pedestrians Have No Problem Obeying Laowai Traffic Warden

This all started when a Weibo user took several photos on Yaojiayuan Road that show a cyclist blocking a car from using the bike lane.

We don’t know much about this guy, but we do know he’s probably frustrated at the continuing use of bike lanes by drivers in the capital.

READ: No More Free Rides: Expats “Lose Face” Trying to Sneak Bikes
onto Beijing Metro

We also don’t know who retreated first, as photos don’t show the driver or the cyclist backing down.  All we can tell from the pictures is that the driver is sheepish at having been caught driving in the bike lane, and that another cyclist, perhaps a local, was completely caught up in watching the proceedings.

Online reaction has been largely supportive, commending the man for taking a stand. But many wonder why it was left to a laowai to take matters into his own hands.

The Weibo account of a police morality squad pointedly asked: “In confronting uncivilized acts, would we (Chinese) be as brave as him?” Meanwhile, netizens had an assortment of comments, like the following:

五楼的鱼维：
(I don’t) dare to do this (myself) because I’m not a laowai. A Chinese (who did this) would surely get beaten up. [angry.emoji]

京城郎叔：
I’m guessing this laowai has been in the capital for under a year.

MM_傑：
The life of regular Chinese people is cheap. They don’t dare to start a fight with the higher-ups.

乱飞扑的Becks懒得理你什么世界：
If a Chinese national blocked the car, he would surely be badly beaten…

homer-BB：
(Is this foreigner) interfering with the internal affairs of our country?

狂人9号：
Fortunately it’s a laowai, otherwise he’d be beaten up.

菁华108：
We should learn from the good side of this foreign guy. [thumbsup.emoji]

别逗俺丶俺会打你的丶：
Good thing it’s not Li Gang’s son. (An infamous case in which a driver who had struck and killed pedestrians was adamant he was above the law by telling police officers, “My dad is Li Gang!”)

LQL奇妙之旅：
It’s all because he is a laowai.

As pointed out by China Daily, expats have previously been involved in instances of blocking cars. In June 2012, an expat in Chengdu blocked others cars at an intersection in order to allow an ambulance to get through. In April 2011, an expat in Guangzhou blocked a car that was driving the wrong way down a road.

Related:

• American With Good Intentions Ridiculed For Helping Victim In China
• Foreigner Gets Whipped With A Leather Belt In Beijing Traffic Altercation
• Expat A Bit Too Tense, Tackles Chinese Woman Over Innocuous Comment
• Foreigner In Chengdu Grabs Steering Wheel of Moving Bus, Assaults Driver

Photos: Southern Daily

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Three men identified as “laowai” were attempting to enter Dawanglu Station on October 29 at 10:10pm when they were barred from entering by staff at the security checkpoint, reports Sina. When that didn’t work, the trio tried to enter the station by using the exit channel, where they were again refused entry.

The Beijing Metro confirms passengers with over-sized packages such as bicycles are not allowed to take the train. Before angrily exchanging words and leaving, the expats were told by a station employee to “not lose face for your country”.

Regardless of whether or not you value the concept of face, we’d urge all expats in China to refrain from bringing their bicycles on the Beijing Metro.

Photos: Southern Capital Report, Sina News

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Shenzhen is planning to make numerous improvements throughout the city, and some of its inspiration will come directly from its neighbor to the south.

Shenzhen is looking to create a number of pedestrian corridors in its Central Business District that match those in Admiralty, Hong Kong. They will be built in the “Golden Triangle” and six other areas where pedestrian traffic is highest.

Shenzhen is also planning to create an all-day or temporary commercial pedestrian street in Nanshan central district, Huaqiangbei, and Dongmen.

Shenzhen’s network of scenic tour routes will also be improved, with the combination of the Lianhuashan and Bijiashan green routes. As well, pedestrian routes nearby hospitals will be upgraded.

A total of nine new pedestrian scenic routes will be constructed in the areas of Meilin, Chegongmiao, Bihai, Tianbei, Xiashuijing, Bantian, Baishaling, Haiyue, and Dongjiaotou.

Lastly, Shenzhen will upgrade the city’s bike trails and offer more bike rentals for those who prefer two wheels to two feet.

Photo: blog.sina

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But that’s for complicated rules, though. And sometimes, there’s no getting through the cracks. Just ask drivers and cyclists in Fuzhou, Fujian Province.

When they used to run red lights, a police officer would remind them to obey the rules. When they didn’t, the community took the next step, one common throughout Chinese history: erect a wall. That’s right, a collapsible metal one meter high fence blocks traffic when the light turns red, reports Caijing. The collapsible gate is used during rush hour and is controlled by a traffic warden.

If this doesn’t work to prevent red light runners, we’d imagine stronger measures will have to take place, like doing away with the road entirely.

Photos: Caijing

The post A Surefire Way To Stop Red Light Runners? Roll Out a Temporary Wall appeared first on The Nanfang.

Xiao Pan is in recovery now after surgery.

A 19 year-old boy from Huadu, Guangdong may be reproductively-challenged for the rest of his life after one of his testicles fell out during a bicycle accident.

Even doctors from a nearby county-level hospital were aghast at what they saw. After preliminary medical procedures, they immediately transferred Xiao Pan to a paramilitary hospital. The doctors there had to stitch up ruptured and damaged blood vessels before putting the testicle back in the scrotum, his doctor told the newspaper.

The injury won’t affect Xiao Pan’s sex life, but will “cause unidentified damages” to reproduction, the doctor said.

This is a huge blow to Xiao Pan’s family, a traditional rural household in Guangdong, where many still believe that the eldest son’s prime filial duty is to continue the family bloodline. Xiao Pan’s mother was concerned if anything were to happen to the eldest son of the family, her whole family would have no dignity or “face” to live any longer, she said.

While that may seem selfish since it’s Xiao Pan who is personally suffering at the moment, the matriarch of the family in China is able to say whatever she’d like since the ball is now in her court.

Photos: Guangdong TV

The post Guangdong Teenager’s Testicle Pops Out in Tragic Bicycle Accident appeared first on The Nanfang.

The event will take place on August 8, the same day as the Chinese festival called Qixi*. Organizers are looking for 119 Chinese couples and 80 Asian and African couples to sign up before July 10.

With the theme of “Romantic Zhuhai, the legend of love”, the tandem bike race is planned along many of Zhuhai’s city landmarks: it begins at Zhuhai’s Lovers’ Lane and East Wind Road before winding its way through Haibin Park, the Zhuhai Fisherwoman, the Haibin Pool, and the Zhuhai Opera House, which is currently under construction. With the Macau skyline in the background, the race course will finally end at Hengqin Changlong International Resort for a total distance of 29.9km.

And it’s not just in the name of love: the winners of the race will get a chance to win the exclusive use of a Trumpche car for two years.

Sounds positively romantic, having your love be authenticated through the participation of breaking a world record. Though we’d have to say: an ideal competition involving two people in love should be more something like this:

***

* Notes: Formerly known as “Girls’ Day”, Qixi Festival is well-known for its heart-breaking story of the cowherd and the seamstress who were destined to spend all of eternity apart except for this one day of the year. On Qixi, all the crows in the world fly to bridge the gap in the Milky Way, allowing them to finally meet each other, if only temporarily.

For this reason, Qixi is often referred as China’s “Valentine’s Day” despite also celebrating similar romantic festivals on “I Love You” Day (May 20), Singles’ Day (Nov 11), Valentine’s Day and White Day (March 14).

Photo: Sina, Says.com

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