Quote Originally Posted by Milton
This is rather bizarre. Even when motorcycles are accurately described as the preferred means of transportation of the people, they are not treated as part of the normal traffic, to be managed and protected equally as all others on the road. Instead they are considered menaces to the general traffic.
This is because people who make the laws are still in the mentality that cars are good, give you face and are wonderful. Something they've always wanted and can now have. They are also encouraged as being a five pillar economic growth factor. Also many Chinese people feel that they are not modern and will loose face if they don not use a car for even then the most frivolous few hundred meter school runs. These are cultural and political biases that have the effect of using laws to attempt to force other users off the roads in favor of cars, trucks are prime targets, secondary targets are various three wheeled vehicles and then motorcycles, followed by electric bicycles and then even bicycles.

Sooner or later the realization, as in western countries that building more roads just encourages more cars and that gridlock is inevitable. At first the sight of seeing a motorcycle scything through traffic will turn any Chinese car driver green with envy and seething with jealousy. However as time passes the idea for a minority of the wealthy, and even some of those in government will be a switch at least for some back to motorcycles, the green shoots of this are visible with wealthy people purchasing their high-end BMWs and Harleys, hopefully they will be increasingly be used for commuting and real recreational riding, rather than just showpieces.