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So basically, you know, you're laying halfway down and then you have two cranks in front of you that you use to propel the bike. Everything is the same as a regular bicycle. The shifters, the brakes, everything else is interchangeable. It's just a different format. So that's kind of what we emphasize is that it's all cycling. Some people use their hands, some people use their feet, but it's all the same thing. That's Josh sharing his insights about the hand cycle, an adaptive bike designed for individuals with limited leg mobility. While these three-wheeled, recumbent-style vehicles are more common in Western countries, they're still quite rare in China. The group of people are here to change that. My name is Joshua Dominick, I'm from the United States, New York State. I've been in China about 22, 23 years, and I'm a translator, editor, but I also do a lot of non-profit work here in China. Better known as Laotan among locals, Josh speaks fluent Chinese with a strong Beijing accent. Just by his language skills, it's hard to tell he's from the West. Over the years, he has seamlessly integrated into the local scene of the capital city. Since founding Cranking Through China in 2013, non-profit work has become a significant part of his life. Together with his friend Dominick Corradin, a wheelchair user from the US, Josh set out to bring adaptive sports to more people in China facing similar challenges, and their journey began with hand cycling. So we had the idea to kind of share our experiences, bring some of the equipment over that we could, and expose people to the possibilities of doing adaptive sports. They travel to different parts of the country, encouraging individuals with limited mobility to give hand cycling a try. Then we got to know a member of the disabled community here in China. During their first visit to Shanghai, they met Wang Feng, a wheelchair user from the city of Zao Zhuang in Shandong Province. When he was 15, he basically was fishing beside a river, and all of a sudden couldn't stand up. He contracted acute myelitis in his teenage years, which damaged his spinal cord and resulted in the loss of leg mobility. For years, Wang struggled with his new reality, often isolating himself and avoiding social interactions. Gradually, he began to embrace his life in a wheelchair, finding ways to support himself. Before meeting the two American expats, he never imagined cycling could be within his reach again. And then when he saw, you know, what Dom and I were doing, he was very, very interested because he was like, this means I can get out into the world. Because by that point, he had only really been in Zao Zhuang and Shanghai, hadn't really gone anywhere else. So when I said, you know, you want to become a part of this, we need to travel, we need to go places, he was very excited. And we took our first trip to Qingdao, just him and I, and we ended up, you know, finding accessible hotels and kind of seeing how everything would work on the road. And then by the time he got the bike and we went to Yunnan, set off from Shangri-La, he had actually not had time to train. So he just basically got on the bike. We spent two days kind of teaching him the basics. And then we were on the road for 450 kilometers. In 2015, the three of them embarked on their first long-distance ride from Shangri-La to Da Li in Yunnan province, a region renowned for its stunning natural scenery and rich ethnic cultures. The journey on the road opened up an entirely new world for Wang Feng, who was thrilled to be part of the project. Through this adventure, they gained a deeper understanding of hand cycling and strengthened their friendships by helping each other and overcoming various obstacles. This cycling experience also sparked their passion for bringing more people along on their journey. And then in 2016, we invited three or four more people. My dad even came. The following year, they welcomed several more participants for an even longer ride through Yunnan province, covering about 750 kilometers from Da Li to Xi Shuang Ba Na Dai, autonomous prefecture. When they reached this southernmost region of the province, they connected with local people with disabilities, learning about their lives and challenges they faced. We could do something in that area. And then in 2017, we kind of exploded. So we took a trip from Xi Shuang Ba Na and went all the way to Beijing. So that was a big ride. It was 5,800 kilometers. We spent 106 days on the road, camping, meeting with people, going to rehab centers, going to bike shops so that, you know, the cyclists could actually see, oh, you know, this is another way of cycling and that they could get exposed to that as well. The three month journey took them through a dozen provinces and cities. Not surprisingly, their unique bikes attracted a lot of attention along the way and the reactions were mixed. So generally, if a kid, maybe a kid that's like under 10, or maybe even in their teens see the bike, they're like, wow, that's so cool. Wow, what is that? So they're genuinely like excited and kind of really curious about the bike. If you get people that are maybe from, you know, a smaller town, maybe a bit older, maybe in their 30s or 40s, they look at it and they're like, what is that? So it's kind of like confusion almost. And then when we say, oh, we're, you know, we're a group of able-bodied and disabled cyclists that are doing this trip to create awareness, they're like, it's so tiring. Why would you do that? They're like, they don't understand the concept of challenging oneself and, you know, reaching out to people and promoting this kind of a sport. Josh says their aim during the trip was to dispel the misconception that people with certain disabilities are no longer capable of doing certain things. We try to, you know, show people in China that whether it's the community itself or the general public, that this is possible, that, you know, people with disabilities are just that people and that they have the same desires, ambitions, capabilities that everybody has, but they may do it in a different way. For these participants, they showed a strong curiosity and interest in trying their hands on these adaptive bikes. What I observe is that when a wheelchair becomes your everyday method of mobility, you're kind of limited in a way, whether it's, you know, stairs, whether it's, you know, a curb that you can't get up or whether it's a door you can't get through because it's not wide enough. All of these things that kind of limit your scope of mobility, your environment. So when they get on the bike and they can get some speed, they can feel like, you know, they're moving in a relatively free way. It kind of opens up that window for them and gives them a different experience. But it was easier said than done. One can only imagine the challenges they faced along the way. Obstacles and difficulties were present at every turn. Options for accessible hotels were limited, especially in small towns, and most accommodation had rooms located on the second floor or higher. So Josh had to piggyback members with disabilities upstairs and bring their wheelchairs and bags up for them. There was one place we went to... Josh recounts their visit to Huang Wushu Waterfall, one of the largest waterfalls in China located in Guizhou Province. We knew that it would be a challenge from the beginning, but we didn't know how much of a challenge. So we got to the ticket gates and they were too narrow. So we ended up having to remove the wheels from their wheelchair and push through and then reattach them after we got through. That was the first challenge. Then right after that, there were about 15 stairs to go up. So we went up the stairs and we went through the garden area. Then we got to the part where you actually go down into the ravine to see the waterfall, and there were about four or five stories to go down of stairs and then a very, very long escalator. And then when we got down to the bottom, there was a boardwalk. So a wooden walkway that about every 50 meters, 20 meters, 50 meters, had two or three stairs. So the purpose of that was not to say, you know, we just want to do it because, but we wanted to see, you know, one, if we could overcome that challenge, and two, to show people that it is possible with the proper skills, with the proper cooperation between myself and our disabled friends. So I think that experience really kind of showcased what we're all about. It's about reaching your goal and finding a way to do it. Over the years, the group gradually expanded into other sports that were once thought to be impossible, including rock climbing, surfing and paragliding. Josh also organizes weekly swimming sessions in Beijing. It also opened my eyes to a different way of doing things. He says his engagement with local communities at the grassroots level has transformed him in many ways, giving him a fresh perspective on life. So even when I go out on my own, I notice things. So I notice when, you know, a ramp is blocked by some bikes, or I notice when the elevator is out of service. And I think, oh, you know, if somebody comes and it's not available to use or there's something in the way, then, you know, if there's a bike in the way, I might move it because I'm thinking about this. If there's, you know, an elevator that's out of service and, you know, I see someone who needs it, I might say, would you need some help? You know, I can help you get to where you need to go, or at least find a member of staff that's willing to, you know, come out and help them with that. So I think it's just about awareness. And that's how my mindset has changed. In China, there are about 85 million people with disabilities. Among them, over 24 million have physical disabilities, making this the largest group. Last year, the country passed an accessibility law aimed at creating a barrier-free society to improve the daily lives of disabled individuals, the elderly and other groups. The law specifies that all newly built, reconstructed or expanded residential buildings, public buildings, transportation facilities and urban and rural roads must meet standards for barrier-free construction. As the country intensifies its efforts to improve living conditions for individuals with disabilities, Josh advocates a barrier-free way of thinking, urging awareness and inclusivity in all aspects of life. Music Josh recalls that his early interest in the Chinese language can be traced back to his high school years in a class called Global Studies. My teacher put a number of newspapers above the blackboard. There was Arabic, there was German, French, Spanish, Chinese, and a bunch of others, and I thought Chinese looked really cool. I thought it just looked like a puzzle to be solved, so I decided to buy a teacher self-Chinese book, and I learned by myself, and I basically listened to the tapes and tried to figure out the characters on my own, and I thought it was fascinating, so I continued studying. And then when I got to college, I started taking Chinese classes properly and came to China to study abroad my junior year. In 1998, he visited Beijing for the first time to study at a prestigious Peking University. Josh says it was also during this time that his personality changed. He used to be quite introverted, but after coming to Beijing, he was able to open his heart and explore the vast world of social interactions. Because I met people from around the world, made a lot of Chinese friends. His proficiency in Chinese made him the go-to person to help among his international classmates, assisting them with opening bank accounts, hailing taxis and ordering food. His interactions with local friends and connections with people from around the globe allowed him to experience the collision and blending of diverse cultures. In retrospect, Josh says Beijing was still in the midst of major infrastructure development back then, a stark contrast to the city today. I remember when I was at Peking University, I still had those kind of, what would you call them, kind of extended buses, and those didn't have air conditioning. And I remember them being very, it sounded like they were going to fall apart because the roads were very bumpy and kind of not very well maintained, so you had a lot of potholes. And when those buses would go over them, the whole bus would shake, and then the windows were these sliding glass windows, and they would rattle in their frames. It still kind of is a memory for me, yeah. Very interesting. Now, I mean, the buses are modern, many of them are electric buses. Not just buses, subways too. The time the subway system only had two lines. From the early subway system, which had just two lines, one linking east and west, and the other a circle around the old city centre, Beijing now boasts over 20 lines that crisscross the city, making it much easier to get around. And then you have today where the sidewalks are nice, the streets are better maintained, the greenery, the trees and the shrubs and all of the things that make a city nice are maintained much better today. Currently, Josh works as an editor for a think tank located in the CBD. The 46-year-old is also involved in translation and cultural exchange programmes. Translation to me is not so much about taking things from one language to another. It's about interpreting concepts and making things clear to someone from another cultural context, from another cultural background, especially in the sense of China, because even though we have a lot of exposure to the Tao, or Confucianism, or Buddhism in a general sense, I think there are a lot of things that are unique to China in those contexts, especially in today's China, that need more addressing, they need to be explained more and need to be expanded on for people to really understand what these values and what these concepts mean to Chinese people today. He is also active on social media, sharing his life stories, insights and perspectives on China. He believes in the power of dialogue and sharing, and he is eager to connect with a wider audience across the world. www.mooji.org