Beijing Bicycle

Beijing Bicycle is a Chinese film by the prominent sixth generation director Wang Xiaoshuai that follows the story of a 17 year old boy (Guei) that travels from the country side to the city of Beijing. The setting portrays Guie in the process of a job interview to become a delivery boy, which acquires him to ride a bicycle to get around the city and complete his deliveries in time. Unfortunately, shortly after his hire, Guie’s brand-new bicycle gets stolen and the stubborn country boy crosses paths with a school boy (Jian) who had bought the stolen bicycle from a second-hand market. The struggles and fights for the ownership of the bicycle not only brought the two boys together, but also explores the themes of rural vs urban, and the symbol of the bicycle.

Guie and Jien are boys that share completely different ambitions due to their different origins. Guie is from the countryside who strives to find a job to support himself, while Jien is only interested in impressing his friends and the girl that he likes. Both of them depend on the bicycle to satisfy their need. Guie holds on to his bike like he is holding on to his own survival and life, while Jien uses the bicycle to show-off his wealth and fulfill his ego. The director emphasizes the different values that the urban and rural youth experiences. As the movie progresses, the city boy is slowly being affected by materialism especially from Western products such as cigarettes and imported video games, which the rural boy lacks the ability to enjoy. Nevertheless, the director emphasizes the fact that it is difficult for rural youths to blend in with the city boys. Throughout the movie, Guie is portrayed as a passive boy with difficulty communicating with the city people, and no family to go home to, whereas Jian bullies the country boy numerous times in the movie.

The whole movie is circled upon the bicycle which means a lot more than an automobile for the Chinese people. The bicycle not only indicated Guie’s life, but it also gave the Chinese people a sense of freedom. It was a kind of freedom that allowed an individual to have control and head to places they never had before. This can be seen in the scene where the school boy rides his newly bought bike near the river with free hands. He lets go of the bike handles and rides freely with a beaming smile, indicating his love and taste of freedom and control. On the other hand, the bike also symbolizes status. It was a tool to impress Jian’s friends and a girl whom he losses when he was forced to give up his bike. However, the bicycle also gets the boys into a lot of trouble. It indicates a bigger picture of the symbol that having freedom in a time of a communist China is not easy and can get people into trouble.

In the end, the boys learn to acknowledge each other and learn to compromise however they both get tragically bullied by a bunch of students. They are left wounded and defeated which is an indirect association with the consequences of a communistic China that has left so many people in poverty. The poor living conditions which has driven people to betray, lie, steal, or just simply giving up everything to fight for their lives. Wang reminds us that all Chinese people are the same. They may share different culture and backgrounds in regards to where they originated, but they ultimately want the same thing which is freedom.