Kingdom of Bicycles, Postmortem by Gloria Chua, Alice Fang

Mao Zedong’s 1950s China was the world’s bicycle production capital. In the 90’s, when the economy opened up, bicycle manufacturing was commoditized and anyone could start a bicycle factory, right in their backyards. We immerse ourselves in the rural town of Wangqingtuo, one of the towns that transformed itself from a backwater agricultural village, to a bustling center of bicycle production. What did bicycles do for this town, and the people in it? Listen on for a tale of their hustle, of inspired imitation, and how bikes changed the lives of the people in this town.

Featuring:

Chinese: Yu Heyong, Cao Jianqin, Liu Xinnian, Zhu Shaobo
Voiceover: Jay Huang, Jake Warga, Dennis Chang, Mike D’Andreas, Rachel Ren, Albert Chen, Jackson Roach, Daniel Hu, Claire Schoen

Producer(s): Gloria Chua, Alice Fang

Music:

● "百花魁~綠萼梅" by 史志有, 楊秀蘭 & 歐陽謙 (YouTube), Standard YouTube License, link here
● "Destiny Day" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
● "Odyssey" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
● "Thinking Music" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
● “Fringe” Topher Mohr and Alex Elena (YouTube Free Music), No attribution required

Image: Man riding a bicycle, Photo by Alice Fang, Link here

Production date: Dec 12, 2016