January 9, 2006—"Guanxi", or the relationship between people, is fundamental to Chinese society. In Chinese business culture, relationships are more important than the deal. How exactly relationships are forged or strengthened varies. In this case, it was a 223 kilometer bike ride through the driving rain on a brand new blacktop highway in rural Hubei province.  The idea started as a joke, of course. But when visiting task team leader Chris Bennett, an avid cyclist who has biked across the United States twice, accepted the dare to bike the 223 km final inspection of the new Xiaoxiang Expressway, the government started planning for their first inspection bike ride.
Senior Social Development Specialist Zhefu Liu saw the ride from Xiaogan to Xiangfan as an opportunity to strengthen the Bank-government relationship. “In China, friendly relationships are very important. When the ride began, the cyclists grouped (themselves) in different teams, and took care of each other and encouraged each other.” He called the event essential for deepening the already good working relationship between the PMO and the Bank for future projects. Click here to see the video
|  The video includes excerpts from the footage shot by a TV crew from the Hubei provincial television station. They covered the event which ended up making the news. |
“Everyone set a target before they started and were so proud of their success when they achieved it,” Zhefu said. Crowds gathered at the toll booths to cheer the riders on. The only real problem for Zhefu , who commutes on his bicycle to work everyday but was not accustomed to such a long ride, was the wind. “It made it so hard for us. I thought that it would be great if the wind did not blow in our faces, but rather blew us from behind.” “We could smell the fresh smell of the wild grasses, the flowers, and the soil – even the salty taste from the mixture of rain and sweat falling down our faces. I could see the fog from everyone’s head with hair wet from the rain, warmed by their heads,” Zhefu said. But for the government and Bank engineers inspecting the road, the rain allowed them to ensure the drains worked properly, to see how the highway’s surface handled the water, and to ensure the surfaces were smooth and free of glass or other debris. The ride was a special treat since bicycles are not allowed on Chinese highways.  Nathan (Xingda) Wang, who works for the general services division of the Beijing office, went on a lark. “I’d never been to Hubei Province before and to do this bike ride to celebrate one of our projects during vacation would make the whole trip interesting and meaningful.”
Nathan, who bought a bike especially for the occasion, had not been on a bike for almost 10 years. “For me – and for most Chinese people – a bike is just a vehicle. No one would select this kind of vehicle to complete a trip of almost 240 km. The furthest distance I ever rode was back when I was a teenager – that was 20 km from downtown to the countryside of Beijing to visit my aunt.” For Nathan’s wife, who has had trouble improving her driving skills in congested Beijing, the day was also significant. “Finally, she got a chance to practice, to drive alone for 12 hours a day on an empty highway – but never exceeding 30 km per hour!” For Nathan, the most memorable aspect of the day was realizing that he could complete such a long bike ride. “After you start, you just can’t stop. The more you ride, the stronger your will to finish the whole journey, even if you can’t feel your body belongs to you anymore. That was really amazing.” His ambition next time is to catch Chris Bennett, who finished four hours ahead of him. The Government and Bank team plan to mount their bikes again when the Hubei Shiman Expressway is completed 2008. Since it is only about 110 km, they will probably ride both ways. The government of China has embarked on developing a National Trunk Highway System which consists of building expressways to link all the major cities with each other, and especially ports. The National Trunk Highway System will result in a network equivalent to, or larger than, the US Interstate Highway System (about 70,000 km) and enhance China's economic and social development. Construction is happening at a rapid rate; in just over 10 years they have gone from almost no expressways to over 32,000 km. The Bank is financing a small portion of the network and one of these is the Xiaoxiang Expressway in Hubei Province. For more information about the Transport Sector in East Asia and Pacific, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/eaptransport Click here for more project information. |
RSS