Bicycle Traffic  (click on the pictures to see more detail)
Move over Steve Mann! Introducing the Kunming Bike-Cam. By attaching my cheap digital camera to an equally cheap Chinese tripod, I can now snap pictures from the handlebars of my bike. 
This is what you run into at a busy intersection in downtown Kunming. While it looks overwhelming, it does have some advantages over the less well traveled routes. There is a traffic light here, for example (barely visible as two horizontal dashes at the top center.) And a busy intersection also has a traffic director; a poor guy with a yellow vest and a red flag who stands out in the middle and tries to control the passing vehicles. 
This is what you get outside of downtown. It is worth pointing out that none of the participants in this exchange has actually stopped moving. This includes the pedestrians valiantly crossing at the center left. For the record, I did stop to take this picture; I haven't yet achieved a war-correspondent's dedication to getting photos in the heat of the action.
Kids are not spared the trauma of battling with moving vehicles. You may need to view the larger picture to see the studied sang-froid of the boy leading the charge, and the panic on the faces of the children following him. Perhaps their fear was due in part to the fact that the bicyclist pedaling at them was more concerned with snapping the shutter than with avoiding a collision.
If you're young enough, you do get refuge from the traffic storm. What looks like a black funnel on the back of the woman pedaling this cart is a really a baby carrier. The carrier is a traditional local design, worn by both men and women. The baby is pulled flat against the back; their legs dangle down below the wide belt holding them to their parent. Most people bring their preschoolers to work with them, even if work involves pedaling all over the city with a load of vegetables. 
Bottled water is the new up-and-coming market niche in China, following toilet paper and cell phones as the "must have" items for the growing bourgeoisie. Tap water should be boiled before being drunk, so bottled water offers real convenience. The uniform worn by this delivery boy is an indication of the status of his job; carrying 25 gallons of water on  bicycle is an indication of the labor. The banana vendors in the background are not part of the New Economy.

That's not all: Click here to see bikes on the job