If there is a quintessentially Chinese industrial product, it is the bicycle. But the bicycle has also become a symbol of what the rest of the world fears most about China―that its phenomenally fast growth can be sustained only at the expense of other economies, both developed and developing. China's success at building bikes has undermined production of two-wheeled vehicles everywhere. The Chinese now manufacture 60% of the world's bicycles, and 86% of those sold in America. All over the world the price of bikes is falling. In Ghana, for example, the cost of a low-end mountain bike has plunged from $67 to $25 in the past two years. The only country with a chance against China's infamously low wages, it is said, is India. Rival manufacturers in Latin America and Africa are struggling to survive.
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