China's more than 1.3 billion people may directly ride their new
bicycles from the store to the roads without first going to the
police for registration.
New road traffic safety rules were passed in Beijing Friday,
abolishing the bicycle registration system which had been in place
for nearly half a century.
Similar reforms have been carried out in some other places in
the country, including Sichuan
Province and Zhoushan City in Zhejiang
Province.
Bicycle has been an indispensable vehicle for common Chinese.
The populous country produced 78 million bicycles last year, about
one third of the global total. In 2002, every Chinese urban family
owned an average of 1.4 bicycles.
Before the reforms, people would have to apply for bicycle
plates or face penalty. They had to turn in tax each year and the
police would take care of the registered bicycles' safety. The
annual tax was four yuan (US$0.48) for one bicycle in Beijing.
The abolishment of the bicycle registration system was
underpinned by dwindling value of bicycle, which was once a major
treasure of the Chinese. Also the registration brought too much
trouble for citizens and increased the cost of government
administration as the old bicycle registration system could barely
prevent theft, said Wang Jiayan, deputy director of the
Subcommittee of Legislative Affairs of the Beijing Municipal
People's Congress, the city legislature.
While most foreigners connect China with bicycle-flooded
streets, Chinese streets in major cities are actually flooded with
automobiles. Some people began to take bicycle as a tool for
physical exercise.
China is entering an automobile age and application for an
automobile plate is becoming more difficult. The country registered
more than 9 million automobiles and the figure is climbing by 15
percent each year.
This reform is similar to the abolishment of pre-marriage
physical checks and of companies' permits for their employees'
marriage, said Wang Yukai, a professor with the National School of
Administration. It indicated the government began to pay attention
to administration efficiency.
(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2004)