Beijing Bicycle – a Chinese diamond in the rough

Beijing Bicycle is a Chinese drama film directed by Wang Xiaoshuai. The movie was released in February 2001 at the Berlin International Film Festival where it has won the Jury Grand Prix, oddly enough it was simultaneously banned in China.

The film tells the story of a seventeen-year-old Chinese boy called Guei who moves from the countryside to Beijing where he is hired by a courier company. The company provides its workers with brand new bicycles that they have to pay off within the first few months. A few days before Guei pays his final rate he is robbed of his precious bicycle.

He therefore loses his job but the company's manager assures him that he might get it back if he only finds his bicycle. He eventually recognizes the stolen good thanks to a labeling he has carved into the frame. It is revealed that the bicycle was stolen by a high school boy by the name of Jian who claims to have bought it on a market for trendy road bikes. After a big argument the two boys decide on sharing the bike on alternate days. In the end however the bike is destroyed by a gang of boys who want to take revenge on Jian for having put up a fight with their leader. The closing scene shows Guei carrying away his battered bike.

The director uses the bicycle as a symbol for social injustice in China and as a means to criticize the highly complicated Chinese jurisdiction. The ban on the film was eventually lifted in 2004 after a few modifications including one on the title.

The film reached great critical acclaim and was praised for its presentation of modern China.