The Red, White, and Blue on Motorbikes in Shanghai and Changsha

In the previous post about the motorbikes I saw yesterday in Shanghai with designs resembling the flags of the U.S. and the U.K., I mentioned I now often seen motorbikes in China with the latter design. Today in Shanghai, as usual, I was not searching for motorbikes. Yet less then two minutes after stepping outside the door, I saw another motorbike with a Union Jack design.

Shanghai

Again, I was not particularly surprised. But a couple of hours later, I was surprised to see yet another motorbike with the Stars & Stripes design, something I have seen far less often in China.

Shanghai

A couple of hours later though, another motorbike helped create a more usual balance for the day.

Shanghai

Today I also looked through photos from my stay in Changsha a couple of months ago. I don't have photos of any American-themed motorbikes from there and don't think I saw any. But I do have photos of three British-themed motorbikes. They definitely weren't the only ones I saw. I took a photo of one because of its setting.

Changsha, Hunan

And I took a photo of two others because they were parked near each other.

Changsha, Hunan

The motorbikes in the photos above and in the previous post appear to be similar models but the Union Jack designs are not exactly alike and often don't match the flag as much as would be possible. My main point for now is simply that the general design is not uncommon in Shanghai and a number of other cities in China — a change of pace from four years ago when a man felt safe claiming his Union Jack motorbike was "one of a kind" in Shanghai.