SCIENCE
China: Rejecting the Bicycle
Monday 31 July 2006 21:00-21:30 (Radio 4 FM)
Mark Stephen discovers the importance of the bicycle as a global barometer of social, economic and environmental change.
In China, the bicycle has long been the transport of choice, but economic growth has encouraged an explosive growth of cars. In 2006 alone, China is expecting to put a further 6 million cars on the road. Taking an intimate journey through Beijing, Mark meets individuals whose lives have been inextricably tied to the bicycle for generations, and discovers that the bicycle is now at the very heart of a new environmental threat.
