Bikes, China's icon, thrive despite car invasion

So by bicycle or scooter they wind their way through rush hour traffic, many wearing cotton masks to filter out exhaust fumes. They weave on and off sidewalks, dismount to squeeze between buses and curbs, slip haphazardly through gridlocked intersections and, sometimes, glide triumphantly past traffic jams.

Later in the day comes a second set of cyclists. Clanging cowbells to be heard above the din of the street, they roam the city hunting for scrap metal or discarded appliances. Some balance TV sets, computer terminals, even refrigerators and mattresses, on the backs of two-wheelers.

Life on wheels can be a cat-and-mouse struggle.

"It's easy to park, and easy to escape when the police come after us," says Wang Dali, a migrant from Anhui province who sells pirated DVDs of movies such as "Kung Fu Panda" and "Sex and the City" off the back of his old Phoenix.

"We aren't allowed to sell in these areas, since it's said to give the city a bad image," said Wang, looking a decade older than his 33 years from a lifetime spent outdoors in the sun and wind.

"Only we poor rural people do this, but we have to, to make a living," he said.

___

Meanwhile, bike companies have been retooling.

Twenty-two years ago, when Chen was first assigned to work at Shanghai Forever's rusting factory in downtown Shanghai, the company was still only turning out 40-pound heavy-duty bikes built to carry loads and entire families on the crossbar, handlebars and rear carrier.

Today, Forever's Web site displays dozens of models, from high-tech mountain bikes to foldables that can squeeze into a briefcase.