Last Thursday, as Typhoon Pulasan bore down on Shanghai, some of the city’s top bicyclists braved the heat and hit the road for the 2024 Tour of Shanghai. Featuring teams from 20 countries and regions around the world, the event is designed to bring racers to the city’s often-overlooked suburbs like Songjiang and Fengxian. And organizers of this year’s race had another focus in mind: spotlighting Shanghai’s history of bicycle production.
Although cycling has declined in recent years, Shanghai remains a center of bike culture in China. After China’s first bicycle was produced here in the late 19th century, the city’s streets were teeming with them by the 1930s. Then, after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, it became a manufacturing hub; its Phoenix and Forever brands would become synonymous with the good life in the latter half of the 20th century.
In this piece, Sixth Tone’s photo editors look back at the history of bicycle production and use in Shanghai.
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A lithograph depicting non-Chinese partaking in a bicycle race, published by Dianshizhai Pictorial, a Shanghai magazine, in 1897. From “The Dianshizhai Pictorial: Shanghai Urban Life, 1884-1898”
A photo of the Fudan Boy Scout Cycling team in Shaoxing in 1934. From the Shanghai Municipal Archives
Workers conduct quality checks at the Shanghai Bicycle Factory in 1958. From Shanghai Municipal Archives
Above: An early Forever logo; below: the company’s current logo. Forever’s roots trace back to the 1940s, when a Japanese manufacturer founded the Changhe Workshop in what is now Shanghai’s Yangpu District. From Forever Bike
In 1956, Forever produced China’s first self-designed and manufactured metric-calibrated bicycle. By the end of that year, the Shanghai Bicycle Factory would patent the 28-inch PA-11 Model, which would become the country’s standard bicycle. From Forever Bike
Founded in 1958, Shanghai Phoenix would become one of China’s most iconic brands, known for producing durable, high-quality bikes. By the 1970s and 1980s, Phoenix bicycles were symbols of relative wealth and were widely used across China. From Phoenix Bike
Street life in Shanghai, April 19, 1980. Edoardo Fornaciari/Getty Images/VCG
Vouchers used to purchase bikes in the 1980s. On the black market a voucher could be priced as high as 100 yuan, almost three times the average worker’s monthly salary. From Weibo
People look at bikes on display at Shanghai No. 1 Department Store, 1983. Lu Jie/VCG
Customers try out bicycles in Shanghai in 1982. In the 1980s, three products were seen as prerequisites for getting married: wristwatches, bicycles, and sewing machines. IC
People ride bikes to work in Shanghai, 1982. IC
A bicycle parking lot in the 1980s. Dean Conger/Corbis via Getty Images/VCG
A man transports ducks in Shanghai, Jan. 1, 1992. Gerhard Joren/LightRocket via Getty Images/VCG
A worker at the Phoenix Bicycle Company in Shanghai, 1993. Tom Stoddart/Getty Images/VCG
People ride bikes to work in Shanghai, 1993. Frances M. Ginter/Getty Images
A mother and her child make their way down a Shanghai street, 1993. Koichi Saito/VCG
A Forever bicycle workshop in Shanghai, Aug. 28, 2017. VCG
A woman rides a shared bike in Shanghai, April. 20, 2017. IC
(Header image: A father and his child bike down the neon-lit Nanjing Road in Shanghai, 1994. Peter Charlesworth/LightRocket via Getty Images/VCG)
