The bicycle towards a global history The modern bicycle as we know it today was developed in England in the 1880s. A decade later cycling was already a popular spectator sport and a recreational fashion across western society. Womens rights class mobility and a modern spirit of individualism helped fuel this bicycle boom. In China on the other hand the bicycles ubiquity reflected state controlled social uniformity. Briefly it became a symbol of resistance in Tiananmen Square in the 1980s but crushed by tanks it later turned into a downward marker of class with millions scrapped. In the 21st century the bicycle is enjoying a global resurgence. It is favoured as a sustainable form of transport while also reinventing itself as a chic and sportive fashion object and a generic protest vehicle. With contradictory strands like these the bicycles cultural history is a rich subject for cross cultural study. Beginning with the technical history of the bicycles invention and the socio economic factors that precipitated it the main focus of this book is the ever changing cultural significance of the bicycle as an object and of bicycling as a shifting but ever popular social practice around the world.