Photos

I took this photo from Tiananmen Square, just before going down into the subway, which leads to The Forbidden City.

When I first went to Beijing in 1996, I was impressed by the "rivers of bicycles", but today the "picture/photo" is different.

Tech: Cropped top and right to reduce the gray sky. Resized, sharpened and added border.

-----------------------------------------

The following information was taken from articles on the Internet:-

China had up to 500 million cyclists on the roads in the early 1980s, but the number of cyclists has fallen as rapidly as private car ownership has risen.

Qiu Baoxing, Vice Minister of Construction, has said that in 2004 there were 27 million motor vehicles in the country and that number could reach 130 mln in 15 years.

Presently, Beijing adds 1,000 new cars to its streets every day.

Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington DC, says that if China continues on its course toward United States income levels (and like the U.S. today, can boast three cars for every four people), there will be 1.1 billion vehicles on Chinese roads, compared to the current world fleet of 800 million.

-----------------------------------------

I suppose that when a barrel of oil costs USD 300, we will all be on bicycles!