China's New Kingdom of Bikes: Bicycling and the quest for modernity

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to investigate the shifting semiotic meanings of bicycles within the cultural context of contemporary China. I seek to interrogate the ways in which the symbolic capital of bicycles becomes established, reformulated, and reconstituted through different social structures. By looking at the shifting social meaning of riding bicycles, I illuminate the ways that social forces define and shape commodities. Informed by discourse analysis of online forums and ethnographic research, this article sheds light on the ways in which ordinary people and national initiatives use material objects and physical culture to remake themselves in an increasingly globalized and capitalistic world.