Beijing Bicycle

Beijing Bicycle 十七岁的单车
Cover art for Beijing Bicycle
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	十七歲的單車
Simplified Chinese	十七岁的单车
Literal meaning	seventeen-year-old's bicycle / seventeen-year-old bachelor
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin shíqī suì de dānchē
Directed by	Wang Xiaoshuai
Written by	Wang Xiaoshuai Tang Danian Peggy Chiao Hsu Hsiao-Ming
Produced by	Peggy Chiao Hsu Hsiao-Ming Han Sanping Arc Light Films
Starring	Cui Lin Li Bin Zhou Xun Gao Yuanyuan Li Shuang
Cinematography	Liu Jie
Edited by	Liao Ching-Song
Music by	Wang Feng
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics (United States)
Release date	17 February 2001 (2001-02-17) (Berlin International Film Festival)
Running time	113 min.
Countries	China France Taiwan
Language	Mandarin

Beijing Bicycle (Chinese: 十七岁的单车^[1]) is a 2001 Chinese drama film by Sixth Generation Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai, with joint investment from the Taiwanese Arc Light Films and the French Pyramide Productions. The film stars first-time actors Cui Lin and Li Bin, supported by the already established actresses Zhou Xun and Gao Yuanyuan. It premiered at the 51st Berlin International Film Festival on 17 February 2001 and won the Jury Grand Prix, but was subsequently banned in Mainland China. The ban was eventually lifted in 2004.^[2]

Beijing Bicycle revolves around a seventeen-year-old boy Guei (Cui) from the countryside who came to Beijing to seek work. He finds a job with a courier company, which assigns him a brand-new bicycle. After it is stolen one day, the stubborn Guei goes on a search for his missing bicycle. At the other end of the city, Jian (Li) is a schoolboy who buys Guei's stolen bicycle from a second-hand market. When Guei's search brings the two boys together, more than the ownership of the bicycle is brought into question. The film explores the theme of youth as well as several social issues, including class, youth delinquency, theft, and rural-urban socio-economic divisions and change.