Life Lessons Learned From Riding My Bike in China

A big part of my life here is riding my bike. I got a new shiny red bike for my birthday last summer. It’s a famous Chinese brand called “Flying Pigeon”. It’s a one speed, like pretty much all bikes here but comes with a basket, bell, fenders and a rack. Bikes are a means of transportation, not a leisure activity so it’s important that they can carry your groceries and at times a friend. Learning to ride a bike in the ordered chaos that is driving in China has taught me several important life lessons.

1. Only pay attention to what’s in front of you, not behind you.

This is perhaps the most important lesson both in bike riding and life. I have never seen Chinese check their rearview mirrors, the way of the road seems to be that you honk once, twice if it is rush hour, and go. The other cars adjust and somehow you just crossed three lanes of traffic before there is even time to turn on your blinker. You can’t worry about what is coming behind you, they will adjust to you. You keep your focus on the obstacles ahead and the rest takes care of itself. To look over your shoulder means that you lose sight of where you are going and that’s when you cause problems (or run into something). Don’t worry about the best, focus on what comes next, or even better where you are right now.

2. Pass on the left, spit on the right. AKA Be consistent.

Chinese take great pride in their ability to hack up a lugie, fortunately for the rest of us there is usually a loud grunting sound that precedes the projectile saliva so that you have time to get out of the way. While there have been several near misses, I have not yet been hit. But just in case others haven’t learned this lesson I usually try to give a wider berth when passing. It is good to be consistent and communicate my expectations of others.

3. There is power in numbers.

In general whatever is bigger has the right of way. So a bus beats a car and a car beats a bike. However, if there more bicycles together they become bigger than the car, and in the morning rush hour the mass of cyclists can even over power a bus! When you come together, you can overcome just about anything. It is usually wise to stay with the mass of bikes. It is often very tempting for me to want to speed up and go around the other slow moving traffic, but that makes you much more venerable to the waiting cars that are also in a hurry to arrive at their destination. It is important to be in community.

4. But you can’t always wait on everyone else. If you see an opening, take it.

I have learned to be much more aggressive in biking since arriving here. Though to the outsider it may appear that there are no rules to the road, it is not true; the rules are just different. The most important thing to remember is that if there is space in front of you, you are expected to take it. If you don’t then mostly likely you will get stuck in an awkward position where the rest of traffic moves around you. Most accidents I see here occur when someone stops to let another car pass only to get rear ended. Not saying you shouldn’t be nice or polite, but you also have to find your own place and stand your ground. If you are worried about what everyone else is doing, you get nowhere. Even when it is overwhelming, keep moving forward and eventually you get where you are going.

5. Nobody wants to hit you.

This is sometimes hard to accept, but very important. No one wants to hurt you. So if you are standing in the middle of the street, cars will go around you (sometimes they even stop but I don’t count on that.) Once you can believe this it makes life much easier. I have been learning to give people the benefit of the doubt both in traffic and life. Accidents happen, but no one is trying to make them happen. I try not to make myself an easy target but at the same time when I have to cross the street I find that cars will go around me. Just as with traffic, relationships form a rhythm of give and take. Sometimes you wait and sometimes others make room for you. If you have a common goal, (such as arriving at your destination unharmed) then you can find a way to work together or at least avoid collision. So even though the cars are bigger and faster than me, I have no reason to fear them. You can’t hit someone without getting hit yourself.

6. Life’s an adventure, have fun!

It’s fun to live here. When I ride home on an empty street with friends I feel like we should go solve a mystery like the Boxcar Children would. Life looks good on top of a flying pigeon. It helps me remember to take life easy and enjoy my surroundings.