Bamboo transformed into bespoke bicycles

David Wang (right), founder of Bamboo Bicycles Beijing, helps workshop participant Mac Goodspeed with his bike. [Photo by Clare Buchanan/China Daily]

He believes that by building bikes you can also build communities that inspire new ideas and actions that are meaningful and important to people.

"Just moving your hands first gets the blood flowing, and people think of new ideas and different things and look for people to help them with them," he says.

BBB promotes sustainable transport. But Wang says, more importantly, it's about creating cultural value for the bicycle in a city that was once called the world capital of bikes. Today, Beijing is a motorized, polluted metropolis.

"The more people know our story, then all of a sudden buying a bike might be an alternative way. I think that's the key. It's much more from a cultural perspective.

"It's about creating a culture where we can value bikes. That's why creating community is important. When you have a community, all of a sudden these social values come up and spread."

Wang has fostered the "BBB community", a group of bright, energetic people who help out during workshops and events.

Some are people who wanted to help after building their own bikes, others heard about BBB through social media and a few just wanted to create things with others.