28.11.2024 Tens of thousands of Chinese college students went cycling at night. That put the government on edge.

They arrived in huge numbers on shared bikes after pedaling 30 miles in the evening chill, pumped by the adrenaline of youth and the thrill of embarking on a spontaneous adventure with friends. Nighttime bike rides to Kaifeng, an ancient city in central China’s Henan province known for its historic sites and soup dumplings, have been all the rage among college students in the nearby provincial capital Zhengzhou – a trend initially encouraged by the government as it sought to promote local tourism. But now, officials are scrambling to curb the craze by deploying police and closing bike lanes after its popularity appears to have gotten out of hand. Tens of thousands of cyclists brought intercity traffic to a standstill, while piles of discarded bikes overwhelmed the streets of Kaifeng, leaving commuters in Zhengzhou struggling to find bikes to ride home. Authorities cited traffic disruptions and safety concerns for the clampdown on the impromptu gathering. But the scenes of hordes of university students mobilizing, organizing and congregating in public are likely to have rattled local officials given the ruling Communist Party’s history with youth movements in China and its obsession with stability.

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Source: CNN