Beijing Bicycle: No Way Out

Beijing Bicycle juxtaposes a country migrant worker and a city boy of the same age in a slice-of-life film revolving around ownership of a bicycle. The film, by Sixth Generation director Wang Xiaoshuai, highlights class differences and the lure of materialism. Beijing Bicycle’s most striking undercurrent, however, is really about the struggles of adolescence and growing up in modern China, giving rise to the film’s literal translation Seventeen Years’ Bicycle.

The issue of class is immediately apparent in the movie’s opening scene, as headshots of several country migrant workers are interviewing for a city job. The workers are thick-skinned from labor and unsure of themselves. All are apparently unclear about what the job really entails. The interviewer, in contrast, is sharp and brusque, a city-person attitude that pervades through the movie. The class difference is further emphasized as the protagonist, Guei, is shown amazed at the luxury and glamour of the high-class hotels and clientele he delivers mail and packages to as an express bicycle delivery boy.

Class is also evident in city folk. Jian, a city schoolboy, is forced to steal money from his parents to buy a used bicycle. The money, as the audience knows, was meant for his sister to attend a prestigious school. It is obvious that his family is too poor to afford both. The class difference between Jian and several other boys is also later emphasized when he is juxtaposed with Da Huan, a bicycle freestylist, and his gang, who sport the latest haircuts and clothing.

Thus, for both poor Guei and Jian, the bicycle symbolizes an avenue for upward mobility – Guei gets a good-paying job, and Jian, the acceptance of his peers and Xiao, his crush.

Despite their respective low classes, materialism also makes its mark on Guei and Jian. Whether this is 'good' or 'bad' is subjective. After tasting success at his new job, Guei refuses to back down for anything lower, to the point of crying to his boss to avoid termination. Guei also abandons an old bike given to him by his only friend – he is no longer satisfied with anything less than the well-made, impressive bicycle he used to own.

The influence of materialism is different for Jian, who, unlike Guei, knows the luxury of urban material wealth very well. For Jian, this knowledge, coupled with the fact that such luxury is out of reach, makes him obviously depressed and melancholic. He is particularly upset when his friends, and Xiao, tell him to “just” buy a new bike, after Guei 're-steals' the bike.

Apart from Guei and Jian, class and materialism is also blaringly obvious in Beijing’s urban backdrop. Hundreds of workers, like Guei, ride their bicycles next to nice cars on Beijing’s roads. Shantytowns, like Guei and his friend's, line the alleyways next to high-rises with huge rooms. Guei looks pitifully awkward in a towel in an aisle of men getting massages. These themes are even explicitly handed to the audience when a woman previously thought to be a rich girl with tons of nice clothing is exposed as a country maid who stole from her employer!

Ultimately, the story of Guei and Jian’s fight for the bicycle is what remains in viewers’ minds, more than any hints of class or materialism ever will. Both Guei and Jian are awfully pitiful in their involvement. Guei is at times stoic and determined, winning the sympathy of the audience. Other times he is beaten to a pulp with no ability to fight or articulate his reasons and negotiate. Jian is extremely similar. At times, he is joyously youthful and almost “cute” with his shy demeanor toward Xiao and petty fights with his guy friends. Other times, he is rebellious and angry, and extremely one-track-minded, especially when confronted by his father when the bike is discovered. Like Guei, he too lacks the confidence to face challenges, such as with Da Huan, with forethought.

These characteristics are absolutely not meant to demean the two lead characters. Rather, they are characteristics that embody many adolescents who face the challenge of growing up in a class-segmented environment. In fact, Guei and Jian do finally compromise, and develop a friendship, albeit a tenuous one.

The many emotionally charged scenes, including the several scenes of violence, are likely representative of what kids growing up in China at that time (and likely, to this day) underwent on a daily basis. Filmed in a typical Sixth Generation documentary style similar to Jia Zhangke’s Platform, Beijing Bicycle at once captures the youthful promise of upward class mobility with the agonizing sense of being trapped in a rat race with no way out.