David Wang in a TV programme.
China was once known as the "Bicycle Kingdom" -- before two wheels were dethroned by four.
Now a young American living in Beijing is using his ingenuity and pieces of bamboo to restore the sovereignty of the humble bike.
Two years ago, David Wang opened the "Bamboo Bicycles Beijing" workshop in Langjia Hutong, where he leads a team each weekend in cutting and shaping bamboo into bicycle frames. After connecting the pieces with hemp fibers and epoxy glue, they attach wheels, brakes and handlebars.
The bikes are not for sale -- they are to encourage a renewed love of cycling among city dwellers.
Wang, 29, hopes the light, shock-absorbing bamboo bicycles can create "a little bit more diverse mobility culture in Beijing".
BICYCLE GRAVEYARD
Wang was born to a father from Hong Kong and a mother from the United States. After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he came to China to continue his study of anthropology.
He has lived in Beijing for over six years, loving the city's ancient hutongs, which are "constantly changing."
But he noticed a growing number of abandoned bikes collecting in the alleyways, with people throwing away old and broken bicycles with the rest of the garbage.
"Beijing is becoming a big graveyard of bicycles," says Wang.
He began picking up the abandoned bikes and "rescuing" them, stripping them down, repairing, repainting, and renovating them.
Then one day he found a very rusty bicycle, which could not be "cured", so he began thinking of better materials to replace the frame. Bamboo came to mind.
He Googled the method, and after three months of research and experimenting, contacting factories and experts, he made his first bamboo bicycle.
"It was amazing," he recalls. "Everybody asked questions about it." Since then, Wang has become convinced that bamboo is better than steel for safety, performance and sustainability.
He traveled to Taiwan, where bamboo craftsmanship goes back centuries, consulting local technicians, visiting bamboo cultural centers, and asking advice from experts on how to choose, keep and connect bamboo pieces.
Returning to Beijing, he became more confident and his bamboo bicycles won acclaim in the cycling community and many followers.
STATUS SYMBOLS A bicycle was a symbol of wealth and social position when they first arrived in China.
