Fast & Furious in China: Beijing's underground racing scene
The culture of street racing continues to thrive in China's capital despite police crackdowns
The scene is something out of The Fast and the Furious movies: lavish, neon-coloured cars taking off from a starting point, each controlled by drivers who enjoy the rush as they pilot their vehicles through the night at speeds of up to 150 kilometres per hour.
The surroundings, however, are different from the Los Angeles or Tokyo city streets that have appeared in the popular series of racing films.
This is Beijing, a city where the illegal street racing community may be less mature than its overseas counterparts, but no less intense.
Inspired by a love for modified automobiles, high-stakes speeding and the intrigue of an underground racing world popularised by films such as The Fast and the Furious and other media from neighbouring Japan and South Korea, racers in China’s capital city have been gunning for the finish line for the past decade.
Gathering at night in areas around the Bird’s Nest Stadium or Beijing’s Second Ring Road, the racers are usually young, with a taste for fashion and a shared mutual appreciation of cars.