China's rapid economic development during the past two decades has seen its people abandon their bicycles for cars as the main method of transport, but one man is now on a quest to bring cycling back to the world's most populous nation.

King Liu, 75, the chairman and founder of Taiwan's Giant Manufacturing, the world's biggest bicycle company by revenue, captured China and the world's attention last year when he rode a bicycle 1,668km from Beijing to Shanghai.

That trip, Mr Liu told the Financial Times, was the first step in a grand campaign to promote cycling as a sport and a lifestyle choice in China. “It was a landmark trip because no one viewed Beijing to Shanghai as a cycling route. Now many people are cycling that route. I was a pioneer,” Mr Liu says.