No Place to Place

Bicycle sharing, known as one of China's "New Four Major Inventions" originated during a period of mass entrepreneurship and innovation. In May 2015, the first dockless shared bicycles were introduced on the campus of Peking University. The concept behind bicycle sharing, "Green Travel" and solving the “Last Mile” problem was widely welcomed. Various capitalists, sensing the market potential of bicycle sharing, rushed into it business. Soon a shared economy storm swept across China. In just over two years, more than 70 shared bicycle companies had sprung up. These companies raised more than 10 billion US dollar in financing and placed around 27 million shared bicycles in major cities in China. Each shared bicycle brand used a distinct color to differentiate its bicycles from competitors. In core areas of big cities the sheer quantity of shared bicycles soon began overwhelming public space.

Originally the government was laissez-faire about the cluttered streets and even encouraged bicycle sharing. They did not realize the seriousness of the issue until September 2017 when the government started to limit the number of bicycles deployed and placing excess bicycles in temporary locations. Such hidden locations are hard to be found in cities and have earned the name “shared bicycle graveyard". Many of the shared bicycles got damaged during the settlement process. The relationship between the government and shared bicycle companies has thus turned sharply.

As the government moves to clamp down on the explosion of shared bicycle, a lot of brands, including 3Vbike, Goku, Dingding, Xiaolan, Kuqi and Xiaoming, have claimed bankruptcy or closed operations of their own accord. Now, only a few companies are still operating. Hundreds of millions of dollars of customer bike deposits cannot be refunded.

The project started in January, 2018. After gathering information from online and offline resources, I’ve travelled to almost every major city where bike sharing went crazy and recorded what I’ve witnessed in (aerial) photos, videos and VR. On the morning of July 26, 2018, this video was launched by Sohu Portal Network of China, which immediately triggered a crazy forwarding of Chinese and foreign media. The number of Internet clicks has exceeded 300 million. Thousands of citizens commented on the Internet to express their opinions, forming a phenomenal media dissemination event. The Chinese government has since improved the management of shared bicycles focusing on supervising operators to reduce their own bicycles in the market and strengthen the recycling of damaged bicycles.

On November 16th, 2018, the photographer won the "Annual Visual Award" from 2018 Tencent Media, hosted by Tencent, China's largest Internet company. Until the end of 2018, most of the shared bicycle cemeteries photographed by photographers have disappeared.

After the storm people had to think deep and hard on the current Chinese economy, resources, environment and human society.

© WU GUOYONG - 11 Wuhan,China This bicycle cemetery is located on the Yangtze River embankment. 2018/08/05
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11 Wuhan,China This bicycle cemetery is located on the Yangtze River embankment. 2018/08/05

© WU GUOYONG - Image from the No Place to Place photography project
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20 Hangzhou, China On the right side, there is a car with sign "shared bicycle transfer vehicle" and a distant building is called “Innovative China Industrial Park”. 2018/05/20

© WU GUOYONG - Image from the No Place to Place photography project
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19 Tianjing, China Wang Qingtuo Town used to be a bike-sharing production base. After the shared bicycles popular, many factories closed down. Some factories pulled back and dismantled the bikes in the cemetery to reduce losses. 2018/04/28

© WU GUOYONG - 18 Shenzhen,China People playing cards in the corner of a community full of shared bicycles. 2018/21/12
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18 Shenzhen,China People playing cards in the corner of a community full of shared bicycles. 2018/21/12

© WU GUOYONG - 16 Shenzhen, China An urban management officer patrols the shared bicycle cemetery on a shared bicycle. 2018/11/07
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16 Shenzhen, China An urban management officer patrols the shared bicycle cemetery on a shared bicycle. 2018/11/07

© WU GUOYONG - Image from the No Place to Place photography project
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17 Dongguan, China A broken road is full of shared bicycles, and an old farmer grows vegetables on the dividing strip in the middle. 2018/08/15

© WU GUOYONG - Image from the No Place to Place photography project
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15 Hefei,China On January 18, 2019, a fire broke out in this shared bicycle cemetery, burning tens of thousands of bicycles, and millions of dollars of wealth were wiped out. 2019/01/19

© WU GUOYONG - 14 Wuhan,China Scattered shared bicycles are dumped in garbage dumps. 2018/04/03
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14 Wuhan,China Scattered shared bicycles are dumped in garbage dumps. 2018/04/03

© WU GUOYONG - Image from the No Place to Place photography project
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13 Shenzhen,China The green plant yard next to a residential area was temporarily used as a cleanup stacking point for shared bicycles. 2018/07/15

© WU GUOYONG - 12 Guangzhou,China Xiaozhou Art Village, a shared bicycle "graveyield" covered by mesh fabric. 2018/04/17
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12 Guangzhou,China Xiaozhou Art Village, a shared bicycle "graveyield" covered by mesh fabric. 2018/04/17

© WU GUOYONG - 01 Wuhan,China Shared bicycle covered by green mesh fabric in morning light. 2018/04/03
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01 Wuhan,China Shared bicycle covered by green mesh fabric in morning light. 2018/04/03

© WU GUOYONG - 10 Guangzhou,China A concealed courtyard, winding paths stretching in a bicycle cemetery. 2018/03/27
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10 Guangzhou,China A concealed courtyard, winding paths stretching in a bicycle cemetery. 2018/03/27

© WU GUOYONG - 09 Hangzhou,China In the shared bicycle cemetery, some scrap cars are mixed among them. 2018/05/19
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09 Hangzhou,China In the shared bicycle cemetery, some scrap cars are mixed among them. 2018/05/19

© WU GUOYONG - Image from the No Place to Place photography project
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08 Shenzhen,China A pure blue graveyield of Xiaolan shared bicycles, which is one of the many shared bicycles brands that went bankrupt. 2018/03/28

© WU GUOYONG - 07 Shanghai, China More than 100,000 shared bicycles of various brands and colors spread the ground. 2018/05/19
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07 Shanghai, China More than 100,000 shared bicycles of various brands and colors spread the ground. 2018/05/19

© WU GUOYONG - 06 Hefei, China An abandoned school with shared bicycles piled up in the playground. 2018/04/11
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06 Hefei, China An abandoned school with shared bicycles piled up in the playground. 2018/04/11

© WU GUOYONG - Image from the No Place to Place photography project
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05 Wuhan, China At a urban-rural junction, a Chinese-style pavilion stands in the village square next to the newly-built residential area, surronded by a shared bicycles 'ocean'. 2018/04/10

© WU GUOYONG - 04 Xiamen, China The 200,000 shared bicycles cleared by the government are piled up here, just like a hill. 2018/04/14/
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04 Xiamen, China The 200,000 shared bicycles cleared by the government are piled up here, just like a hill. 2018/04/14/

© WU GUOYONG - Image from the No Place to Place photography project
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03 Shijiazhuang, China abandoned share bicycles pile up under a bridge. One bicycle has a print that reads “Amazing China”. 2018/11/22

© WU GUOYONG - Image from the No Place to Place photography project
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02 Guangzhou, China The fake Venetian St. Mark's Flying Lion now becomes the patron saint of the bicycle cemetery. 2018/04/17

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