Cycling

To really see Beijing you need to be elbow to elbow with the locals. Fight your way down city streets, dodge cars and buses and ride a bike.

Beijing has to be the cycling capital of the world with huge numbers of its residents taking to these two wheeled machines as the primary form of transportation. So many people bike that the city has built special traffic lanes specifically for bikes and the also installed crosswalk lights for bikers. (We're gonna have to develop a new word for these lights because you clearly don't walk and 'traffic light' implies some sort of motorized vehicle.)These 'bike lights' work in sequence with the pedestrian crosswalk lights but give bikers a five second head start....very valuable when racing quick footed pedestrians.

Many of the bikes were modified to hold small electric motors that were charged with manual power. Pedal for a mile and then let the battery operated motor take you the rest of the way. Very ingenious.

Do you like to bike?