A Shanghai Bike Mechanic
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When I first walked into the Giant bike shop in Shanghai’s Min Hang district a Specialized custom frame mountain bike outside the door caught my attention. This bike belonged to the clean-cut, well-built shop mechanic, a man by the name of Zhang Xing. He wore the clean but plain clothes of a man who worked for his living.
Due to a paucity of bike terms in my Chinese dictionary, I came into his shop not knowing how to say the names for the parts for which I was searching. “Do you have a thing…I mean a thing, I don’t know how to say, if you want to put something on your bike, one of those things,” I said, leaving room for interpretation. Mr. Zhang patiently narrowed down my description to what I wanted, a front rack, and later helped me find a few other hard to describe parts.
The shop wasn’t busy. As he showed me various parts and described the wheels he was and was not able to build, I told him about the trip and found out a bit about him as well.
“I’m glad you speak Chinese,” he told me, “my education level isn’t beyond junior middle school, so my English isn’t so good.” Despite the “egalitarian” reputation of communism, many folks here express a hesitancy or lack of confidence when associating people who are more “educated” than themselves. I tried to reassure Mr. Zhang that my college degree was well worth the effort, but not much more than that.
He told me that he, just like almost everyone else I talked to in Shanghai, was not from Shanghai, but was actually from one of the surrounding areas; in his case Anhui. The poverty and lack of jobs in his hometown first sent Mr. Zhang into the military after he no longer attended school, and he spent several years in Xinjiang, a time which he found interesting but cold.
Giant is a quality bike brand, ranking right up there with Trek, Specialized, and Cannondale. However, most Chinese people who ride bikes use non-name brand bikes. The classic bikes work well, but the newer style non-name brand bikes are infamous for their low quality components and tendency to break down.
Giant is actually a Taiwanese company. Not knowing this, I told Zhang that I thought it unfortunate that there wasn’t a quality Chinese bike company. Taking my ignorance or possible hint at Taiwan’s independence in stride, Mr. Zhang explained that Giant was a good company, and that Taiwan “is part of China, right”. I agreed with his first point and let the latter pass by.
After the military he came to Shanghai looking for work, and found a job at the Giant store. He enjoys life in Shanghai, or at least finds it preferable to the countryside. From the apartment he describes as tiny and poor quality, Mr. Zhang commutes fifteen minutes to work every day by bike.
I told Mr. Zhang how by doing our trip, we were hoping to convince more people in the U.S. and China to bike instead of drive, yet I wasn’t sure how best to communicate this message, or indeed how the current situation would be best changed. “More and more Chinese people are driving cars,” he said. Then he paused thoughtfully. “I don’t think this is a problem that can be solved immediately, nor one that can be solved by one person,” he told me. Then a person came in with a poorly adjusted derailleur, and it was back to work. Mr. Zhang back to his tool kit and grease smeared gloves, keeping people biking by fixing their bikes. Me back to my trip preparations, hoping to inspire biking by relatively extreme example.
October 26th, 2007 at 11:03 am
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James John:
What did you do to your hair?
Love,
Autumn
October 27th, 2007 at 7:26 am
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Jimmy, I can see you in the bike shop with the shop keeper. Thanks for the insight. Too bad ;you did not have time to visit his apartment. take care. your mom
October 27th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
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Hi, JJ,
It’s been interesting to see China thru your eyes. Is this what they refer to as a slow boat to China? Enjoy the food. Jenny wants to know what happened to your hair.
Love,
Aunt Sue
October 27th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
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Jim,
Yet another great post. Keep up the good work,
Dan
October 28th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
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Jim -
I really enjoy reading what you have to say for various reasons. One is because I feel like I’m back in school due to your vocabulary. I swear every post, I’m hitting up the dictionary to see what the crazy word you just used means. I mean “paucity”?! Keep it up man, keep it up.
I hope your Steripen is working well. If you need another one, let us know and we will go to Home Depot and get you another one.
-je
April 12th, 2008 at 4:20 am
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April 15th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
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April 15th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
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April 16th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
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April 22nd, 2008 at 2:42 pm
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April 27th, 2008 at 10:42 am
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May 10th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
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Just a quick question: where is the Minhang Giant bike shop? Did they have a good selection of bikes? I am looking at getting one now and I live in Minhang.
Thanks!
November 28th, 2009 at 5:21 am
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When I first walked into the Giant bike shop in Shanghai
April 30th, 2011 at 4:07 am
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Off course, the mechanic is responsible for ensuring about the bikes as used in general use. The mechanic will do this by performing regular maintenance on the bikes, conducting periodic bike maintenance seminars with participants I am looking for the bike mechanic at my place.
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