Bamboo transformed into bespoke bicycles

The Bamboo Bicycles Beijing community meets for rides around the city and attracts the interest of passersby with their bespoke bikes. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Bamboo. For years pandas have eaten it and builders have climbed up it, but in a workshop nestled in a traditional Beijing hutong it's being transformed into beautiful, bespoke bicycles.

As the Chinese capital stirs to life on a Saturday morning, I pick my way through a pile of bamboos, which I'm supposed to have turned into a bike frame by the end of the weekend.

I have no idea where to begin and realize that my hands are increasingly just used to type on a computer keyboard or smartphone. The last thing I "made" was some flat-pack Ikea furniture or my dinner, and in Beijing even the latter is a rarity.

Luckily I am in the capable hands of Bamboo Bicycles Beijing, thought to be the country's first do-it-yourself bamboo bike workshop.

After just two days I am the proud maker and owner of the 155th bamboo bicycle created with the help of BBB. But as I left the workshop what struck me most was the sense of community, engagement and education nurtured by the venture.

Fullbright scholar David Wang says his research into Chinese contemporary culture and youth with China Youthology inspired him to set up BBB in 2014.