Eric's Beijing Diary

Well, I bought bicycle number four today. Walking around the campus last night, I spotted an old, old bike in the yard of one of the bicycle mechanics who works near the West Gate. I don't think this bike was stolen. It has obviously been sitting here for a long, long time. I suppose there is no way to be positive, but it doesn't seem like something he was frantic to get rid of. Besides, he is not a bicycle salesman. He's a mechanic. The tires were flat. Hmmm... I don't know, but I don't think this guy is handling stolen stuff. He must have guessed my situation, because he was driving a hard bargain. He insisted on having 100 RMB for the bike, plus extras. My students would tell me that I was being ripped off, and that did seem like a lot of money for such an old, old bike, but the thing looked so terrible I just had to buy it.

It is easy to become cynical about this, but even though I am very suspicious of people who sell used bikes, the fact is that there are many, many used bikes in China, and certainly they are not all stolen. It's hard to explain if you have never been to Asia, but I have seen bicycle parking lots with hundreds of old bikes that have been there for nobody knows how long. Every once once in awhile, they will put up a sign announcing that the bikes are going to be removed by a certain date. When that date comes, the bikes that have not been removed by their owners are gathered up and junked. What happens to these bikes? I suppose some of them would be sold for scrap iron, but certainly many of them would be sold wholesale to dealers. These are not stolen bikes. They are abandoned. I have no problem with abandoned bikes being recycled through the market. That's why I always try to buy a used bike from a legitimate business. After my first bike was stolen, I decided that the best way to be sure a bike was not stolen was to buy a new one. But that isn't always a guarantee, either. And it doesn't work to buy a new bicycle if I cannot even park it at the Foreign Teacher's dormitory. Guess I could take it up in the elevator every night like some folks do. I hate to start doing that, though, because it is kinda large, and...well, I don't know...I hate to alter my life because of criminals.

Here it is, folks. My "new" fourth bicycle. If this thing ever turns up in your neighborhood, it's mine. I hope I'm not getting cynical. Anne Marie sent me an email today, and said that all of her kids have had a bicyle stolen at some time or another. She is right, and the point is well taken. Bicycle theives are certainly not limited to China. Kaori, my Japanese daughter, had her bike stolen in the parking lot of the Japanese International Baptist Church in Tempe. She had run a cable lock through the front tire. The theives just unbolted the tire and took the bike. There are two reasons that this kind of theivery is out of control in China. First, there are just so many, many people who depend on bicycles as their primary means of transportation. And second, related to the first, is that there is a market for used bicycles. These two factors make enforcement a very, very difficult task. Many people speak of the police with a certain measure of dispair and almost contempt on this issue. But I would hate be responsible for law enforcement on something like this. It's a huge problem, simply because there are so many, many people in China.