When my mother first began taking Canadians travellers to China nearly thirty years ago the country had just opened to tourists. She was impressed by many things including the swarms of bicycles on city streets and the relative absence of motorized vehicles.
This has changed, as have so many other things. China is probably the world's largest producer of bicycles but now millions of them are exported. While cycling is still the principle form of transportation in what was the Hidden Kingdom everyone wants a car and the steady increase in prosperity is making that possible for many. The number of confrontations between cyclists and motorists is growing. Shanghai is considering banning bicycles to make motorized traffic run more smoothly.
In Beijing the government is taking the opposite approach. A million cars have been ordered off the roads so that the air quality will improve. China has some of the smoggiest cities of the world and it is estimated that hundreds of thousands die each year from respiratory diseases. The Chinese government wants to make sure that the world's athletes can breathe when they arrive for the Olympics. The citizens of Beijing may be dusting off their bicycles for a few months.
Of course we are dependent on our vehicles every day in the "905." We commute to work and to church. We have drive-through restaurants and banks. When we see an adult riding a bike for transportation rather than exercize we wonder if they are poor or a "character." Who would choose to get around that way? We were pleasantly surprised this summer to see so many bike paths in Montreal and rural Quebec. There it is a lifestyle choice, not an oddity.
Get rid of our cars? Not likely. Still, we can consider walking and cycling as spiritual acts, as ways to care for the earth and our bodies. Jesus hoofed it and I can conjure up a great image of Jesus and the disciples trying to keep robes out of spokes, if bicycles had been available. WWJC -- what would Jesus cycle?
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