@nytimes reporter covering China and Asia, but mostly China. Got a tip? alexandra.stevenson@nytimes.com GPG
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This is a story of a Chinese town that once made the world's bicycles. It was whiplashed by a boom and sudden bust in bike-share start-ups (the guys who flooded cities w/ millions of 'dockless' bikes). Now it's dealing with the mess left behind w/ @caoclihttps://nyti.ms/2DBRfad
It's example of how China's scale leads to so much waste. This farmer's field is filled w/ bikes that belong to one of the many bike-sharing start-ups once called unicorns and valued at billions of $$. Now not even the tires on these bikes are worth selling, the farmer sayspic.twitter.com/VHkIwf7q0K
During the boom, this town was so busy that delivery trucks created daily traffic jams. Factories couldn't find enough workers and paid double. A residential high rise went up to money sloshed around. “They came very quickly,” said one guy who starting a biz painting bike frames.
"They left very quickly," he added. Soon factories were making so many bikes that there was a surplus. Some start-ups could no longer pay for their orders. Here is his shop today. Other storefronts stand empty on the street, too. Bicycle parts litter the town.pic.twitter.com/bNjZ95lYJL
Here is one shuttered factory. The note on the door says: “I am going back home for Chinese New Year. Will restart on the 18th of Chinese New Year," referring to Feb. 22. More than a month later, the person had yet to return. There are many others like this.pic.twitter.com/OAqcZCUXws
Booms and busts punctuate the Chinese internet scene in a way that even Silicon Valley at times might think extreme. The farmer's field with its rows of bikes -- and the many bike cemeteries across the country just like it -- are just another tombstone.https://nyti.ms/2DBRfad
Metaphor of Human devolution.
Can't these bikes be sent to Africa or South America?
Just giving things to Africa causes its own problems. At a stroke you kill off businesses in Africa producing/supplying bicycles. Better to encourage sustainable growth there and fur us to purchase their goods.
I'm sure there's plenty of no/low income families that could use those bikes
Almost every Chinese citizen has one today. Those are the ones with no possible owner.
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