China races ahead of the pack as bike-sharing takes off

Back in the summer of 1965, a group of self-styled anarchists whitewashed 50 bicycles and stationed them in the center of Amsterdam.

"We wanted to save the city," said Luud Schimmelpennink, 79, who invented the "White Bicycle Plan" as a member of the anti-establishment Provo movement. "The idea was that with free bikes and no locks, people would stop using the car."

Although the plan backfired - the bikes were confiscated by police - it offered a glimpse of the future. That playful act of defiance has gone mainstream, and with the bike-sharing boom still in its first decade, Asia is already outpacing the European towns and cities that gave birth to the phenomenon.