Discussion keeps the worldturning.
This is RoundTable. Professional cyclists go as fast as 40 km per hour on average at the Tour deFrance.
That's almost as fast as some food delivery guys on their electricbikes.
Now as if to make the streets even more dangerous at the cost of their own lives and somehowelse, some amateur cyclists seek to challenge professional records in cities already packed withtraffic.
Hello, I'm Laming and this is RoundTable.
Today with Newhalling and GaoJingya, we allot you to a new type of killer slash victim on the road and see whether we can make the roads safer for everybody as the traffic situation continues to evolve in Chinesecities.
So I'm not sure if I'm being sensational but I'm sure you have experiencedthat.
Besides the always dashing delivery guys on the electric bikes that could go beyond 40 km perhour, now the streets of big cities in China have welcomed orwelcomed.
We have witnessed the addition of a new risky or new threat or new risk and that is cyclists who seem to be reckless with their own lives and the lives of everybody else on theroad.
Well, it's hard to say because at least based on myobservation, these people try to pick time that is at least not peaking hours when it comes to the trafficsystem.
They try to use the very early mornings or even that of the night to avoid being in the clash of major traffic or people on the road getting really busy getting towork.
Andyes, we are calling them reckless cyclinggroups.
The cycling groups with competitive activities that stimulate road bikeraces.
These groups are organized often consisting of a dozen people ridingtogether, some even hundreds of peopleparticipating.
They have theiruniform, they wear really professional gears and they also have this very professionalbikes.
And the fastest riding speed can exceed 40 km per hour like Lymingsaid, so really reallyfast.
And with this high speed and a large number ofparticipants, situations that violate traffic regulations sometimes occur bringing safety hazards to the passing bydrivers, pedestrians and othercyclists.
That's why we are not welcomingthem.
We are witnessing this kind ofsituation.
What kind of behavior is on the airport that you find most annoying and mostdangerous?
I just came across a group of this reckless cyclist yesterdayevening.
It was around 11o'clock.
It was about 6 or 8 ofthem.
Actually not all of them are wearing thegear.
Some of them are now with thehelmet.
That was quitedangerous.
The green light actually was going from 3 to1,3.
I think at2, that'sexactly.
They just ran across the trafficlight.
It was so dangerous because I was ready to cross myside.
My side is going to turngreen.
So I was shocked there and I gave them not so friendlyglance.
Just a little bit furious about that because they are not cared about their own safety and also the pedestriansafety.
I know 11 pm and not that much traffic but still a number of cars on theroad.
And a lot of pedestrian because we know520...
We have to make the20s. Couples were celebrating that specialday.
By risking their lives on the road or risking theirlives.
Kindof. Running the red light or trying to beat the red light is one of the dangerousbehaviors.
Others include running againsttraffic.
I wasn't aware of the risks involved going against the trafficbefore.
But since I starteddriving, I realized that sometimes it can be quiterisky.
An experienced driver might not look back when they are making aturn.
Especially when making a leftturn.
Here in China cars drive on the rightside.
When they are making their leftturn, if they don't lookback.
And then somebody is going against thetraffic.
They could easily be hit by a left turningcar.
The same applies to a different road system where cars drive on the leftside.
Again, you get what Imean.
It's potentiallydangerous.
Not to mention you occupy the lane where everybody is supposed to go in the samedirection.
Then if you are going against thetraffic, there is a slight chance of you hitting somebody headon.
That's also going 40 kmph onroad.
Definitely. And in themeantime, if we say running the red light or actually riding against traffic is a very clear violation of trafficregulation.
And also not all of the reckless bikers are thatreckless.
Actually, what they really do do quite often is to ride on the motor vehiclelanes.
Because they are very fast and in order to be thatfast, they want to getround.
The hurdles they see on their ownlanes.
And that is why theybelieve,well, youknow, I'm 40kmph.
I get to use the 40 kmph fastlane.
But that is notokay. Although the blame is not entirely onthem, sometimes the bike lane is occupied by some auto-mobiles or whatever youhave.
It is a complex situation on theroad.
They are not always there toblame, but going at 40 kmph and then going on the motorroad, I mean that suddenly isrisky.
There is potential risk of maybe a driver or car driver trying to avoid hitting you by switching lanes and thereby hitting a car that is in the adjacentlane.
Imean, it is potentially a traffic accidenthazard.
This could definitely happen actually on April11,2024.
An accident occurred at a crossroads in Tianjin involving two cyclists who ran a red light and were subsequently struck by acar.
One of the cyclists sustainedinjuries, according to a local road traffic managementauthorities.
The cyclist has been found to bear the primary responsibility for theaccident.
And this is not only happening inTianjin, actually inTianjin,Shanghai,Beijing,Guangzhou, all theseplaces.
The major cities actuallyare,again, notwelcoming, but witnessing this trend as more and more people viewing themselves as amateur athletes trying to start or hold this kind ofcompetition.
They are a amateur competition among their fellowcyclists.
On onehand, we have been talking about the possiblerisks, the possible problems that aredangerous, not only theirlives, but also other road rightsholders.
That is thepedestrians, the drivers on theroads,lives.
And on the otherhand, I also feel that if they have a better place tocycle, if they have the kind of terrain that they're lookingfor, the kind of mountains like to bikeon, the kind of riverside they like to cyclearound, then none of them would want to cycle on theroad, especially on a vehiclelane.
So,yeah, I think this is definitely a complicatedissue, and since we're observing this kind ofsituation, maybe finding a way to make everybody happy is at least what we can talkabout.
There's been a lot of conversation and also evenmeasures, real practicalmeasures, about making thecities, streets safer forcyclists.
Infact, inBeijing, over the past fewyears, you've seen more bike lanes being set out and designated forthem, and there are rules against automobiles taking up the bikelanes.
The cities have done a lot to accommodate the growing needs ofcyclists.
Imean, let's faceit, it's a very eco-friendly way to commute to go from point A to pointB.
It helps with reducing carbon footprint and combating climatechange.
So, it's something that's supposed to be encouraged assuch, more and more cities have donethat, but then I'm getting second thoughts about thisbehavior.
Now that cities have done something to accommodate this growingneed, and we are seeing more people taking upbiking.
I know that some of our colleagues have three to four bikes athome, and they can change into whatever outfit they would prefer on what givenday.
Butagain, this tendency is encouraging more people tobike, to travelaround, but this has alsohelped,well, help is not the rightword.
This is also inpotent, certaincyclists.
Ofcourse, according to China's trafficrules, cyclists have the right ofway.
Right or left turning automobiles are supposed to yield to bikes that are goingstraight, but as adriver, I've observed people cyclists going like theirdevils, as if they know that the cars that their sheer will can stop thecars, their sheer will can ensure that drivers will absolutely spot them and hit thebrake.
But I'm not sosure. There's something happening in the trafficrules, but as someone who's learned the lesson in the hardway, as a secondary schoolstudent, I once was getting involved in a bikeaccident, and I really dislodged my arm because of thatthing.
But it wasn't avery, very hardlesson, but I got thenote.
Atsuch, I'm off the opinion that the rules are there to protect us and provide compensation or penalty in case accidentshappen.
But if I'm notcareful, maybe I wouldn't be there to collect thecompensation.
That is a very serious way of describingit, but I am100% withyou, Imean, thatis, we should be responsible for our ownbehaviors, and weshould, especially when we're on theroad, sharing the road withothers, consider other people's rights aswell.
And that's whybefore,actually, I believe many cities are working on making the city morewalkable, morebicarbonate, making the city more livable ingeneral.
But before doingthat, many people arealso, many local authorities are also increasing menpower for patrols and collaborating with police stations to set ofcheckpoints, to slow down these cyclists and prevent furtheraccidents.
And some regions are also actively increasing the establishment of specialized cyclingroads, but even on thoseroads, those relatively moreprofessional, yet still amateur cyclists might be a bit too fast comparing with otherbikers, like Imyself, I would ride a sharedbike, and I can definitely not compete with these relatively more professionalcyclists.
If it's theroad, if it's not the place for professionalcompetition, maybe find another place to have a race with your fellowbikers.
Yes, I get it'sfun, but life is more important than anythingelse.
I think it's fair for any cyclists or cycling enthusiasts to demand that cities accommodate the growing need for a place so they can have tofund.
It could be arace, it could be just some casualriding.
Imean, if you're living thecity, you paid ataxes.
Imean, you havethe, youknow, you have to write to demand that something be made to some changes be made to accommodate yourneed.
I don't understandthat, but then you also have to respect the reality of the traffic conditions here in Chinesecities.
At thebeginning, we mentioned the dashing food delivery guys that are traveling probably beyond 40 km per hour in thestreets.
There are also sometimes running against traffic and beating the redlight, ifnot, youknow, violating the redlight.
So the traffic situations are verycomplicated.
Already theresources, publicresources, police and traffic authorities have beenspent, expanded to combat certainirregularities, forinstance, in manycities, including Nanchang and sometimes inBeijing, you see police men stopping people who are riding againsttraffic, they're mostly stopping people that are riding electric bikes because they can really gofast.
So the electric bikes are much heavier and can do much moredamage.
And then so measures are being taken to combat that and Beijing has introduced regulations demanding electric bike owners toregister.
Butagain, it's a different story when it comes to cyclists andbikes.
We try to do some homework to find out whether there is any speed limit imposed on cyclists in thiscountry.
So far we're not being able to find any reliable source saying that there's a nationwideregulation.
Certain cities have a speed limit on the speed of electric electricbikes, capping it at 15 km perhour, but I'm not sure anybody's observingthat.
So the roads situations are very complicated and the resources are already a spreadthing.
And I'm not sure it's the right time for the cyclists to try and get meddled and get caught up in this situation and really is putting their own lives atrisk.
Yeah, I think like yousaid, I mean this whole regulation from the local governments is one thing and their regulation and also they're providing more infrastructure that friendly to thecyclists.
And also the safety awareness of the cyclist is anotherthing.
But I think maybe we can absorb thecycling, I don'tknow, education maybe into our school system from the young age people will learn how the safety rules and how best they can absorb into the urban life and withother,yeah.
But it's changing sofast.
Imean, ifyou, if you have a goodmemory, I mean the practice of riding bicycles acrosscities,well, there oncewas, there once were nine million bicycles in Beijing as the songgoes, but then we talked to driving cars a lot more and the government has done a lot to promote the sales of cars and electric cars in thiscountry.
So the traffic situation is always adapting and changing and now we are seeing a re-nacens and resurgence of interest in bicycles and this is complicatingthings.
I'm not saying we shouldn't and it'salways, Imean, hearing thiscountry, we always learn the story of Da Yu who will try to deal with the flood by digging tunnels and rivers rather than buildingdams.
We are aware of the wisdom of providing and facilitating the necessary conditions for people to enjoy what theydo.
But then is this the issue of whether we have the resources and whether people are willing tocooperate?
And that is why for everycyclist, make sure if you are going reallyfast.
First ofall, where are helmet and second ofall, follow the trafficrules.
You're listening to Round Table UpNext, some new trends take shape in the culinaryworld.
We get to the bottom of why seemingly conflicting tastes grow in popularity at the sametime.
Looking forpassion? How about fierydebate?
Want to hear about current events in China from differentperspectives?
Then tune in to RoundTable, where East meets West and understand it is thegoal.
Welcome back to RoundTable.
In thissegment, I ask a very simple but very difficultquestion.
What's new in food anddining?
There are so many things happening in thisarea, but two very interesting trends we observedrecently.
What the world ofdining, what the world of small and medium and maybe even big restaurants is that they are apparently figuring out different direction to develop or to be innovativeabout.
And to startwith, we observed the resurgence of self-service model with relatively lower price receives increasing popularity among Chineserestaurants.
Forexample, if we take the hotpotbrand, the Gu LaoGuan, where consumers can nowpay $99, that is14, around $14 to enjoy unlimitedfrog, snacks anddesserts.
And ofcourse, you can add on something by finding out the kind of dish you like on the menu and pay for itseparately, but with the things that I've listed with $99 oraround $14, have as much as youwant.
Similar situation actually are happening in a lot of other hotpotplaces, hotpot restaurants as well as some fast foodrestaurants.
They launch the breakfastbuffet, allowing you to have breakfastin, take a guess how much do you need to pay for a breakfast buffet with twodish, only twodish.
Only twodish. Only twodish, but that's not abuffet.
Well, you can have it all youwant.
It's a limitedoffer. Threeyuan.
Oh,okay.Yes. For threeyuan, you can haveexactly, you can have a porridge that you would like to have and another one designated staplefood.
And ofcourse, if you want somemore,again, you can order on the menu or there are differentcombo,15, 45 differentcombo, allowing you to have differentoptions.
As picky asLyme, who would not consider a two dish buffetbuffet, you can go with the 45 yuankind.
It's a packagedeal. It's not abuffet.
Okay. I think you've got a pointthere.
But the idea is that with these relatively lower prices and morevariety, the competition in the restaurant world is gettingfierce.
People now see that with this relatively small amount ofbudget, they get to enjoy this eat all youwant, kind of style in a lot of restaurants that previously do not provide suchservices.
And people are enjoyingit.
And this is happening in cities around thecountry, or is it also happening in bigcities?
Because, youknow, we can't rule out the factor of livingcost.
Because I was thinking in the past one or twoyears, we've seen the popularity of one city from theother, beginning withZibo, where people go to enjoy the local style ofbarbecue.
And then moving on to Harbing in wintertime, and then in Dombay ingeneral, North EastChina.
And then lateron, we hadGansu, TianShui,Malatang, which is boiled vegetables andmeat, all in onepart, basically asdo.
They're all quiteaffordable, from the news we'velearned, from the reports we'velearned.
Yes, but those are designated dishes that people would like toenjoy.
It's kind of like a local specialty in a certainway.
But thistrend, the reason we're calling it atrend, is because it's happening not only in the restaurants of hotpod, inBardbyq, in fast foodrestaurants, providing youbreakfast, but also sometimes in dessert stores aswell.
And in noodle restaurants in Beijing andXinjiang, you can have any kind of topping that youwant, with as much noodle as you caneat.
So this definitely is a trend happening in a lot of different types of restaurants around theworld, around thecountry.
And people are talking about this because apparently they are enjoyingit, but also they're trying to figure out whether or not this limitedprice, or the actually decrease ofprices, it would lead to possible problems likethe...
The price formore. The hygiene of thefood, and also the quality of thefood, but apparently by providing people with different combo ofchoices, ordifferent, like Flemingsaid, differentchoices, whether or not you want to use relatively lower price to get relatively smaller number ofchoices, or if you want to spend a bit more and have morechoices.
And all these strategies coming together are benefiting not only people who areeating, but also the business operators aswell.
Right, this is onetrend, affordablebuffet, or you can eatbuffet.
Yes, that is the firsttrend.
And on the otherhand, observance actually find out that there has been this popularity of restaurants inBeijing,Hubei, and otherregions, offering a curated selection ofjust...
18dishes. So on themenu, instead of having30, 40 different dishes that you can pickfrom, that the cook can actually produce foryou, they only provide you with 18choices, which isreally, reallylimited.
Yet, they claim that these are the very best 18 dishes that you canget.
Well, if you eat one of the 18 dishes in myrestaurant, you will never go to other restaurants for the same kind ofdish.
Is this what you do in northernChina?
Junya, you're from Hubeiprovince.
This is something that you commonlydo, or this is new to you aswell.
I think this is new tome.
I had this experience visiting a restaurant inWuhan, which wasproviding...
Exactly, that kind ofservice.
Yes, 18dishes. But less than 18dishes.
The food wasamazing. And affordableprice, not affordablecheap, quitecheap.
You're two ofus, threedishes, a huge bowl ofrice, just 118yuan.
That's $20. And you knowwhat?
The provide you all the freshvegetables, freshmeat.
You can actually choose from the kitchenarea.
Andalso, the otherservice,actually, we didn't mention ithere, is that we can actually bring our own vegetables and meat and ask them to cook forus.
Well, this is because they're quite close to a supermarket or afair...
Fresh foodmarket? I'm not sure they're sotripletries.
It's just freshfish,vegetables,fresh,fresh,fresh.
I think this is part ofthe...
This is veryunconventional.
Because restaurants usually don't allowpeople...
No, they wouldn't encourage people to bring their own food and have itcooked.
Oringredient. In the stormwork, in case of foodpoisoning, there'sno...
You can get into quite the argument as to who's the responsibleside.
Yes. Butdefinitely, I think the limited dishes on the menu is a new trend happening a lot of differentrestaurants.
Restaurants claim that at least when we're providing the 18 selecteddishes, these are the best out of thebest.
We can assure thequality, we can assure the quality not only of thedish, thetaste, but also theingredient.
And at the sametime, we want to assure those who do not prefer pre-cooked meal that all these dishes are freshly made in the kitchen and just in thekitchen.
That'sfun. And this issomehow, my guess is connected to the tendency of onlinepromotion.
Definitely. You need a hook to get peopleinterested.
You need ahook, forinstance, athree-year-old, two-item package deal to get people in the store to beginwith.
And then perhaps on thatbasis, people can start ordering somethingmore, maybe even some drinks andbeverages.
That's somethingworth...
Also, the option of only 18 choices that really speeds up the process of decision-making can't really afford to have people sittingthere, studying their menu all day without making anyorders.
There yougo, that's myguess.
As all the time we have on this edition ofRoundtable, if you haven't heardenough, remember you can find us at RoundtableChina or any podcast platform youprefer.
