9 million missing bicycles

Where did all the bicycles, so common in Beijing, go? In a word – banned. Some bicyclists were simply deported from the city and the others "actively discouraged…" Ah, there is also an “exclusion zone” around the Olympic venues where nothing (a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y nothing!) can take place without the explicit permission of the Chinese government. There are no bicycles allowed in that zone (of course! bicycles are so passé and low class, only the poor ride bicycles…) and the cops asked where have all the bicyclists gone answer either “what bicyclists?” or “look, there are everywhere!” (thus creating make-believe bicyclists in a make-believe democracy…Or maybe the smog was just too thick to see the bicyclists...)