Vicious cycle: Shenzhen to Shanghai on two wheels

There’s a saying every mainlander, from taxi drivers to schoolchildren, can recite: “Up in the sky there is heaven; here on Earth we have Suzhou and Hangzhou.”

Known collectively as SuHan, Suzhou, in Jiangsu province, and Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province, are situated at the southern end of the Grand Canal – the ancient waterway on which goods were shipped from the south to Beijing. SuHan was core to the economy of the Yangtze River Delta before Shanghai, 100 kilometres or so to the east, was a dot on the map, and much of what we associate with Han Chinese civilisation – silk, tea, calligraphy – developed here.

Today, these two cities boast tourist economies. Hangzhou’s West Lake and Suzhou’s classical gardens are designated Unesco protected heritage sites. Yet when we cycle through this so-called “heaven on Earth” we witness few of the wonders SuHan has to offer. The whole eastern seaboard is enshrouded in a foggy haze that recalls the “airpocalypse” of Beijing 12 months earlier.

Eight of us have been cycling through dense smog since Ningbo, unaware that we are peddling through historically abysmal pollution.

Just before we reach Lake Taihu, on the Yangtse River Plain, south of Shanghai, Ride For Hope organiser Nicholas Smith calls together the riders for a roadside meeting. “I’ve just received word from Shanghai – I’m afraid we won’t be able to cycle into the city tomorrow,” he tells us, his face grave. “The pollution is too serious.”

According to the Shanghai Daily, “The city’s PM2.5 density soared to 468 micrograms per cubic metre by midnight, more than six times the nation’s limit of 75.”

“We’ll have to reconvene in a month or two to finish this leg of the journey,” says Smith.