Category Archives: China

Lady Beetle

The LUOstutio created a special bicycle with the inspiring name of Lady Beetle back in 2019. It followed a parallel consisting in battle two plagues: the insect eats aphids and Lady Beetle is a way of recovering some bikes from the millions of abandoned Chinese shared-bikes because of a unbridled commercial expansion. Luo Yujie and Lu Zuhuojian made it possible.

The LUOstutio created a special bicycle with the inspiring name of Lady Beetle back in 2019. It followed a parallel consisting in battle two plagues: the insect eats aphids and Lady Beetle is a way of recovering some bikes from the millions of abandoned Chinese shared-bikes because of a unbridled commercial expansion. Luo Yujie and Lu Zuhuojian made it possible.

At the beginning, both inventors were worried about millions of bike and additional scrap metal which were constantly producing. They talked to a friend who was a teacher and said them that he carried his didactic materials in a shopping cart. As a a result, they started working on a project which culminated in the Lady Beetle. It consists in a creative, interesting and lively space which reuses industrial residue in a natural and artistic manner.

What is Lady Beetle? Well, it is a quadricycle with a front wheel and three rear wheels, high load capacity to carry wisdom to wherever it goes. Its shell contributes to protect whatever is inside Lady Beetle, which above all is a moving library. Thus, it eases teaching materials to be transport so that teachers do not suffer back pain and use cars.

At the beginning, both inventors were worried about millions of bike and additional scrap metal which were constantly producing. They talked to a friend who was a teacher and said them that he carried his didactic materials in a shopping cart. As a a result, they started working on a project which culminated in the Lady Beetle. It consists in a creative, interesting and lively space which reuses industrial residue in a natural and artistic manner.

What is Lady Beetle? Well, it is a quadricycle with a front wheel and three rear wheels, high load capacity to carry wisdom to wherever it goes. Its shell contributes to protect whatever is inside Lady Beetle, which above all is a moving library. Thus, it eases teaching materials to be transport so that teachers do not suffer back pain and use cars.

CREATOR: gd-jpeg v1.0 (using IJG JPEG v80), quality = 95

The longest bridge for bikes

As the time I am writing this post, the Skyway elevated pathway in Xiamen (China) holds the international record of the longest infrastructure of this kind. Xiamen, as well as most of the largest cities in the world, suffers from excessive road traffic, pollution and noise. China was full of bicycles decades ago, and authorities want to come back to it, at least partly. Indeed, bikes were one of the main treasures every citizen should have for Mao Zedong.

The Skyway was designed by the Danish architecture studio Dissing + Weitling, and constitutes a 7.6 kilometers long and 4.8 meters width wonder for riders. Moreover, it has pedestrian crossings, parking areas for bikes, access ramps and several intermodality stations, where you can get public transport. 30,000 led lights illuminate it.

Riding on it is so impressive that thousands of people use it everyday. From an architecture perspective, it has received awards like the Danish Design Award in the category of Livable Cities in 2019.

The Critical Mass

Let me start by the beginning. The grounds appeared in China as a consequence of a characteristic cyclist behavior. It consists in a cyclist waiting in an intersection until a group of bikers is created. Once they have the sufficient power and visibility, they can cross it and force the cars to stop. By the way, the name of “critical mass” is taken from this film.

Then, it jumped up into the U.S. and specifically to San Francisco as the first “official” Critical Mass. Here, the participants had to fight against the lack of understanding of local authorities and dramatic actions were even taken. The documentary We are traffic! shows those initial moments. As you can see, the atmosphere was committed with all the participants wanting to spend a good time while at the same time they defended claims such as a better world, pollution reduction, practicing more sport, reducing street accidents and so on.

Today it is celebrated in more than 300 cities worldwide once a month. The specific date varies between places and it is a good idea to contact with local bikers to join it. So remember, if you see suddenly cyclists on the street, let’s say dozens, hundreds or even thousands, you would be probably seeing the Critical Mass. It could also be possible that it did not still exist where you live. If this is the case, why don’t you start it?.