Bike-sharing in China a way to beat jams

A man in a suit rents a Mobike to cut through the traffic in Beijing. Photo: Bloomberg

Scenes of millions of people cycling in major Chinese cities decades ago led many outsiders to call the country the “Kingdom of Bicycles”.

As China became the world’s second-largest economy, cars overtook bikes as the most popular form of transportation. The country is now the world’s largest auto market, but the downside is that roads are gridlocked and air pollution has become a pressing problem.