Cycling is a common form of transportation and recreation in China, although use of bicycles has significantly declined since the 1970s and 1980s, when the country was nicknamed the "Kingdom of Bicycles" (自行车王国; Zìxíngchē wángguó). Although some early velocipedes were introduced to China from Europe beginning in the 1860s, cycling remained limited to a relatively small group of westerners residing in the country until the first decade of the 20th century, where bicycles began seeing limited use in Shanghai and other metropolitan centers. Steadily rising in popularity among the emerging middle class during the 1920s and 1930s, they became commonplace during the Maoist era as factories began producing large numbers of bicycles, and alternatives such as rickshaws and pedicabs fell out of use.
Previously limited by a rationing system and high prices, bicycles became generally available to the working class following economic reforms in the late 1970s and 1980s. Urban redevelopment, the abolition of the work unit system and the increasing availability of private automobiles and mass transit have significantly reduced the use of bicycles by commuters; between 2000 and 2010, the number of Shanghai workers who commuted by bike dropped by more than half. Cycling is generally seen as less prestigious than other forms of transportation, and is increasingly associated with older generations and the Mao era.
China remains the largest producer and consumer of electric bikes. Bicycle-sharing systems have proliferated across the country over the course of the 2010s, represented both by public government-sponsored ventures and private companies such as Ofo and Mobike. Cycle sport was traditionally underrepresented in China on an international level, although Chinese teams saw increasing success at the Olympic Games during the early 21st century, seeing the first gold medal in the sport at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Sport cycling is managed by the Chinese Cycling Association, an organization managed de facto by the Cycling Department of the General Administration of Sport's National Cycling and Fencing Management Center.