In China, a sea of ​​students on bicycles block the roads to collect baos

INTERNATIONAL – A nocturnal movement… and impressive. Hundreds of thousands of students on bicycles flooded a highway in Henan province, China, on the evening of Friday, November 8. These young people planned to drive from their campuses in Zhengzhou to the small town of Kaifeng to taste delicious “guan tang bao”, steamed buns filled with juicy stuffing.

According to estimates relayed by the The Guardiantheir movement has grown so much that between 100,000 and 200,000 students joined the procession during the last expedition. As you can see below, the six-lane highway that connects the two cities was filled in just a few hours with thousands of bicycles, blocking car traffic. The situation was such that the police had to use loudspeakers to ask them to go back in the other direction by bike or by free bus.

On Saturday morning, authorities announced temporary restrictions on roads and cycle paths for the entire weekend. Bike-sharing apps, meanwhile, have warned they will remotely lock any bike taken out of designated areas in Zhengzhou, home to more than 12 million residents. Some universities in the city have also taken measures, such as requiring students to apply for a pass to leave the university grounds by bicycle.

A trend launched in June by four students

This impressive movement actually starts from a simple message posted by four students on social networks last June. “Youth is priceless, the night walk to Kaifeng is an example,” they wrote, posting photos of a short bike ride between the university and the city, where they went to taste guan tang baos.

Their journey of around fifty kilometers excited many of their comrades, who embarked on the adventure the following weekend. Local authorities initially saw this initiative as an opportunity to boost tourism in Kaifeng. The media thus gave visibility to this operation, while the city offered discounts for visiting some of its sites.

The People's Dailyofficial state media, also celebrated the “wave of young travelers” in Kaifen, which she presented last Thursday as “an opportunity to explore the city's cultural and historical attractions, bringing new meaning and energy to this ancient city.”

The newspaper predicted that a « pic » around 2,000 people would be reached for the first weekend in November. But according to The Guardianthe number of students rose to 17,000 the following Thursday, before reaching a peak on Friday evening, with between 100,000 and 200,000 cyclists. Night cycling has also gained popularity in several major Chinese cities in recent months, but none of them have seen crowds as large as those seen in Henan.

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