Author:
Xu Tao
Xu Tao
Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences
Search for other papers by Xu Tao in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Xu Tao in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
All currencies in US Dollar
The bicycle so thoroughly transformed transportation in China that the country was known as “the land of cyclists” by the late twentieth century. Concerning the global popularization of industrial products, past research mainly focused on the interaction between the introduced commodities and their nonWestern consumers. In order to take the analysis of the modern transformation beyond Western objects and passive receivers, this article explores how Chinese people came to make a living from bicycles. This investigation traces the manifold transitions of the Chinese bicycle business in Shanghai during the tumultuous half-century from 1897 to 1949.