Bicylcular Acrobatics
Finding a Chinese person who doesn't know how to ride a bike would be an anthropological phenomenon akin to discovering Atlantis itself. This is one aspect of Chinese life that I believe many foreigners have at least heard about, if only in vague pop culture references. Bicycles easily outnumber motor vehicles on the streets 20 to 1, and every street has bike lanes. I'm not talking about piddly little bike lanes that you can barely fit one bike into like those in the US... I'm talking about bike lanes the width of at least one or two lanes that cars could fit into comfortably. For most Chinese, bicycles are their primary vehicles. They go grocery shopping with them, down to the park, over to grandma's... and even, on occasion, big-time shopping.
I have seen people balance 27" TVs on the back rack of their bicycles while riding in traffic on some of the busiest streets of Shanghai. Got a sofa you need to move? No problem, just balance it on my 3-wheeler. How about 20 foot lengths of PVC piping? Pas de probleme... I'll balance it on my shoulder!
You ever seen those acrobats on the bikes or unicycles at the circus? Ever wonder why they're all Chinese? I don't think the Chinese have circuses... they don't need 'em. You can get all the action of a circus on any given day on any given street in the city!