China’s press announced a new program to prevent bike theft: every bike produced in China will have a number engraved on it to deter thieves and help trace it if it is stolen.
“Known as the “bicycle kingdom”, China is home to a 470 million bicycles. Almost four million bikes, including 700,000 electric bikes, are stolen every year in China, costing bike owners a collective two billion yuan (267 million U.S. dollars).
China launched a nationwide campaign to crack down on bicycle theft in the first half of this year. More than 393,000 stolen bicycles were recovered by police from March to June 15, and about 195,000 were returned to their owners. “
Interesting. All the bikes I own have serial numbers engraved in the frame. The difference may be — I hope — that this is a single numbering system rather than the hundred different ones used by world bike frame manufacturers.
See my past posts on cycing in China.
