Images of China’s capital city engulfed in a thick, yellow-gray blanket of smog and dust since late last year have shocked the world. Now, thanks to the innovative work of a group of young artists, the millions of people who commute by bike every day in northern China can breathe a sigh of relief – and some fresh, filtered air.
An online video of a “breathing bike” that provides purified air for the rider has gone viral on YouTube and Chinese video-sharing sites fuelled by fears over the impact on long-term health of air pollution.
The video shows Matt Hope, a Beijing-based British designer, wearing a helmet connected to a home-made air purifier powered by his bike as he pedals through Beijing streets. The bike is equipped with a pedal-powered engine generating 5,000 volts of electricity when the bike is in motion, according to Hope. The video on YouTube has been viewed more 74,000 times despite the fact that YouTube is blocked in mainland China.
By filming young innovators like Hope, the video’s co-producers O Zhang and Xiaoli Tan say they are sharing the creative and positive ways China’s younger generation are combatting crises such as air pollution.
“The fact is that most people [in China] are trying to survive, with every bit of hope,” Zhang told the South China Morning Post.
Zhang and Tan, both young women in their early 30s, began searching for inspiring and unique young people to film in China for their video series “Cool Sparks” late last year. They met Hope in Beijing and learned about his “breathing bike” idea, and they were convinced that Hope and his invention provided a role model for China’s young people to tackle their problems with daring and innovation.