Riding in Beijing; plenty of thrills without the frills

Bicycles. Millions of the things, hurtling down Beijing's highways and sidewalks in perpetual motion. It's true that as China develops and its moneyed middle class swells, the number of cars clogging its major cities' highways is skyrocketing.

Still, on any given day in Beijing, nearly 10 million locals pedal through the city, maneuvering through impossibly dense traffic, dodging pedestrians by mere centimeters and stopping for nothing short of a direct order from the police.

The bicycle culture here in Beijing isn't tough to break into. Even as a foreigner with limited language skills, I was able to rent a bike without much hassle. At each major gate of Tsinghua University, there are bicycle-renting kiosks, where a $20 renter's fee and a $50 deposit buys the use of a bicycle for up to one year.