Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Culture and Politics of E-bike Mobility in China

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Urban Mobility in Modern China

  • 601 Accesses

Abstract

The chapter aims to examine the power dynamics governing E2W mobility in major Chinese cities (bans, control, relationships between different road-users, stigmatization of e-bike as a ‘silent killer’ with users being branded as uncivilized, ‘low-quality’ citizens). The chapter also examines mobility in China, the growth of car use and its competition with two-wheelers, as well as the role of the e-bike in transforming the urban landscape. Car ownership and the association of the e-bike with low suzhi are the two main socio-cultural barriers to wider e-bike adoption and acceptance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    路权, luquan.

  2. 2.

    十七岁的单车, dir.Wang Xiaoshuai, 2001.

References

  • Aldred, R. (2008). Incompetent or too competent? Negotiating everyday cycling identities in a motor dominated society. Mobilities, 8(2), 252–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anagnost, A. (2004). The corporeal politics of quality (Suzhi). Public Culture, 16, 189–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baerenholdt, J. O. (2013). Governmobility: The power of mobilities. Mobilities, 8(1), 20–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bain & Company. (2015). China new mobility study 2015. Bain study. http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/china-new-mobility-study-2015.aspx. Accessed 23 Nov 2018.

  • Ben Dror, M. (2011). Transition towards sustainable transportation: The case of electric bike diffusion in China. A Beijing case-study (MS Thesis). Oxford: University of Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ben Dror, M. (2014, February 27). E-bikes bring individual and sustainable transport to China. TheCityFix. http://thecityfix.com/blog/e-bikes-bring-individual-sustainable-transport-china-maya-ben-dror/. Accessed 24 Jan 2016.

  • Berker, T., Hartmann, M., Punie, Y., & Ward, K. (2006). Domestication of media and technology. Maidenhead: Open University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bloomberg. (2016). China spends more on infrastructure than the U.S. and Europe combined. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-15/china-spends-more-on-infrastructure-than-the-u-s-and-europe-combined. Accessed 05 Oct 2017.

  • Brunson, J. (2014). Scooty girls’: Mobility and intimacy at the margins of Kathmandu. ETHNOS, 79(5), 610–629.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cherry, C. (2007). Electric two-wheelers in China: Analysis of environmental, safety, and mobility impacts (PhD Thesis). Berkeley: University of California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cherry, C., & Cervero, R. (2007). Use characteristics and mode choice behavior of electric bike users in China. Transportation Policy, 14, 247–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cherry, C., Yang, H., Jones, L. R., & He, M. (2016). Dynamics of electric bike ownership and use in Kunming, China. Transport Policy, 45, 127–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dant, T. (2004). The Driver Car. Theory, Culture & Society, 21(4/5), 61–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dennis, K., & Urry, J. (2009). After the car. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Featherstone, M., Thrift, N., & Urry, J. (2005). Automobilities. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fishman, E., & Cherry, C. (2015). E-bikes in the mainstream: Reviewing a decade of research. Transport Reviews, 36(1), 72–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gabardi, E., Huang, T., & Sha, S. (2013). Upward mobility: The future of China’s premium car market. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/upward-mobility-the-future-of-chinas-premium-car-market

  • Gerth, K. (2010). As China goes, so goes the world: How Chinese consumers are transforming everything. New York: Hill and Wang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halkier, B., Katz-Gerro, T., & Martens, L. (2011). Applying practice theory to the study of consumption: Theoretical and methodological considerations. Journal of Consumer Culture, 11(1), 3–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, A. (2016). Hanoi on wheels: Emerging automobility in the land of the motorbike. Mobilities, 12(5), 628–645.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hjorth, L., Wilken, R., & Gu, K. (2012). Ambient intimacy: A case study of the iPhone, presence, and location-based social networking in Shanghai, China. In L. Hjorth, J. Burgess, & I. Richardson (Eds.), Studying mobile media cultural technologies, mobile communication, and the iPhone. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • ITDP Report. (2017). 中国 电动自行车的发展与 展望. Guangzhou: Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kidder, J. L. (2009). Appropriating the city: Space, theory, and bike messengers. Theory and Society, 38(3), 307–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, N., & Tao, X. (2012). Modern mobilities in mainland China a review of the academic field. Transfers, 2(3), 157–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, X (2016). Future perspective of electric bicycles in sustainable mobility in China. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University: Cardiff, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ling, Z., Cherry, C., Yang, H., & Jones, L. R. (2015). From e-bike to car: A study on factors influencing motorization of e-bike users in China. Transportation Research. Part D. Transport and Environment, 41, 50–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, S. (2006). Towards an analytical theory of social change: The case of China. British Journal of Sociology, 57(3), 503–520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lohry, G. F., & Yiu, A. (2015). Bikeshare in China as a public service: Comparing government-run and public-private partnership operation models. Natural Resources Forum, 39(1), 41–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKinsey & Company. (2017). Savvy and sophisticated: Meet China’s evolving car buyers. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/savvy-and-sophisticated-meet-chinas-evolving-car-buyers#0

  • Miller, D. (Ed.). (2011). Car cultures. London: Berg Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norcliffe, G. (2011). Neoliberal mobility and its discontents: Working tricycles in China’s cities. City, Culture and Society, 2, 235–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Notar, B. E. (2012). ‘Coming out’ to ‘hit the road’: Temporal, spatial and affective mobilities of taxi drivers and day trippers in Kunming, China. City & Society, 24(3), 281–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Notar, B. (2017). Car crazy: The rise of car culture in China. In A. Hansen & K. B. Nielsen (Eds.), Cars, automobility and development in Asia: Wheels of change. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paterson, M. (2007). Automobile politics: Ecology and cultural political economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pew Research. (2015). Car, bike or motorcycle? Depends on where you live. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/16/car-bike-or-motorcycle-depends-on-where-you-live/. Accessed 12 Dec 2017.

  • Reckwitz, A. (2002). Toward a theory of social practices: A development in culturalist theorizing. European Journal of Social Theory, 5, 243–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roepke, I. (2009). Theories of practice – New inspiration for ecological economic studies. Ecological Economics, 68, 2490–2497.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryghaug, M., & Toftaker, M. (2015). A transformative practice? Meaning, competence, and material aspects of driving electric cars in Norway. Nature and Culture, 9(2), 146–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schatzki, T. (1996). Social practices: A Wittgensteinian approach to human activity and the social. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Schatzki, T. (2010). Materiality and social life. Nature and Culture, 5(2), 123–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sengers, F., & Raven, R. (2014). Metering motorbike mobility: Informal transport in transition? Technological Analysis & Strategic Management, 26(4), 453–468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shove, E., & Walker, G. (2010). Governing transitions in the sustainability of everyday life. Research Policy, 39, 471–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shove, E., Pantzar, M., & Watson, M. (2012). The dynamics of social practice. Everyday life and how it changes. Los Angeles: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sixth Tone. (2016). New law shatters migrants’ electric dreams. http://www.sixthtone.com/news/734/new-law-shatters-migrants-electric-dreams. Accessed 12 Oct 2017.

  • Sopranzetti, C. (2014). Owners of the map: Mobility and mobilization among motorcycle taxi drivers in Bangkok. City & Society, 26(1), 120–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spaargaren Gert. (2003). Sustainable consumption: A theoretical and environmental policy perspective. Society & Natural Resources, 16(8), 687–701.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spinney, J. (2010). Performing resistance? Re-reading practices of urban cycling on London’s South Bank. Environment and Planning A, 42, 2914–2937.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tyfield, D., & Zuev, D. (2018). Stasis, dynamism and emergence of the e-mobility system in China: A power relational perspective. Technological Forecasting & Social Change 126, 259–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tyfield, D., Zuev, D., Li, P., & Urry, J. (2014). Low carbon innovation in Chinese urban mobility: Prospects, politics and practices (STEPS Working Paper 71). Brighton: STEPS Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallis, C. (2013). Technomobility in China. Young migrant women and mobile phones. New York: New York University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Webster, C., & Zhao, Y. (2010). Entitlement to the benefits of urbanization: Comparing migrant and peri-urban ‘peasants’. In F. Wu & C. Webster (Eds.), Marginalization in China. Comparative perspectives (pp. 59–71). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Weinert, J., Ogden, J., Sperling, D., & Burke, A. (2008). The future of electric two-wheelers and electric vehicles in China. Energy Policy, 36, 2544–2555.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wells, P., & Lin, X. (2015). Spontaneous emergence versus technology management in sustainable mobility transitions: Electric bicycles in China. Transportation Policy Part A: Policy and Practice, 78, 371–383.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, F., & Webster, C. (2010). Introduction: China’s urban marginalization in comparative perspectives. In F. Wu & C. Webster (Eds.), Marginalization in China. Comparative perspectives (pp. 59–71). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, X, Yang, X., & Huan Shi (2015, May 3–6). Innovative practice of EV-carsharing in China for urban E-mobility. Presentation at EVS28, Kintex, Korea. http://www.a3ps.at/site/sites/default/files/downloads/evs28/papers/C1-01.pdf. Accessed 15 Jan 2016.

  • Ye, Y., Xin, F., & Wei, L. (2014, July 4–7). Characteristics of the electric bicycle: A comparative analysis with bicycles and public transit. In CICTP 2014: Safe, Smart, and Sustainable Multimodal Transportation Systems – Proceedings of the 14th COTA International Conference of Transportation Professionals (pp. 3450–3458). Changsha, China.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu, L. (2014). Consumption in China: How China’s new consumer ideology is shaping the nation. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yuan, X., Liu, X., & Zuo, J. (2015). The development of new energy vehicles for a sustainable future: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews., 42, 298–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, C. (2011). Study on urban resident trip survey in Fei county. In International Conference on Remote Sensing, Environment and Transportation Engineering, RSETE 2011 – Proceedings (pp. 807–809).

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, L. (2017). Fashioning the feminine self in “prosumer capitalism”: Women’s work and the transnational reselling of Western luxury online. Journal of Consumer Culture, 17(2), 184–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Y., Wu, W., Li, Y., Liu, Q., & Li, C. (2014). Does the built environment make a difference? An investigation of household vehicle use in Zhongshan Metropolitan Area. Sustainability, 6(8), 4910–4930.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zipser, D., Yougang, C., & Gong, F. (2016). 2016 China consumer report. The modernization of the Chinese consumer. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/here-comes-the-modern-chinese-consumer. Accessed 10 Mar 2018.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology, CIES-ISCTE-IUL, Lisbon, Portugal

    Dennis Zuev

  2. Nürtingen-Geislingen University, Geislingen, Germany

    Dennis Zuev

Authors
  1. Dennis Zuev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Zuev, D. (2018). The Culture and Politics of E-bike Mobility in China. In: Urban Mobility in Modern China. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76590-7_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76590-7_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76589-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76590-7

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation