Consider this: May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, designated by official Act of Congress in 1992 as the official month for commemorating the numerous ways that Asians and Pacific Islanders have helped to build and shape this nation. But May also happens to be National Bike Month, designated by the League of American Wheelmen — now the League of American Bicyclists — in 1956 as the official month for commemorating the numerous ways that two-wheeled, human-powered vehicles have helped to build and shape this nation.
And…maybe that’s not entirely a coincidence. Though the bicycle was invented in Europe, the hub of the two-wheeled universe has since then shifted inexorably to the East. Today, over two-thirds of the world’s bicycles roll on Asian streets: 7 million in South Korea, 20 million in Indonesia, 70 million in Japan, 100 million in India, and more than 500 million in China, the globe’s reigning zixingche da guo, or Kingdom of Bicycles.