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Influx of student cyclists from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng overwhelms Chinese authorities · Global Voices

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Influx of student cyclists from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng overwhelms Chinese authorities · Global Voices

Screenshot from @QGHDZ YouTube channel. The photoshopped slogan on the back says: Go eat the baozi!

Chinese authorities in Henan imposed lockdowns on the campuses of several universities after tens of thousands of students embarked on an evening bicycle ride from Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, to Kaifeng, a tourist town.

The trend of nighttime bike rides started June 18 when four young women left Zhengzhou at 7 p.m. for a 50-kilometer bike ride and arrived around midnight in the ancient city of Kaifeng, just to taste its famous dumpling soups (Guantang bao). As their expedition went viral online, students from Zhengzhou joined in and organized their own nighttime bicycle rides for the Kaifeng baozi.

At first, Kaifeng city authorities welcomed the students, thinking their photos on social media might attract tourists to the ancient Chinese city. To accentuate the trend, city authorities have waived ticket fees for students to major tourist sites and sent police officers to ensure road safety at night. Three major bike-sharing platform operators have also allowed their bikes to move across the city. State media, such as China Daily, rented night riders for their sense of adventure. Here is the CGTN report, funded by the Chinese government, on the nighttime journey on X:

The state’s turnaround

After weeks of cycling, the trend deteriorated last weekend as young people from other regions and cities traveled to Zhengzhou to join a mass night race to Kaifeng on November 8.

During the 5-hour ride, most of the bikers sang patriotic songs and slogans. But sometimes politically sensitive phrases that are highly censored by the Chinese state arise, as Teacher Li, an overseas Chinese dissident and social media influencer, points out:

On the night of November 8, among the students traveling from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng, one of them shouted: “Long live the Communist Party!” Another student carried a flag with the slogan “I’m riding to freedom.” But then several colleges in Henan were closed the next day.

It is estimated that more than 200,000 people took part in the night ride on November 8, flooding the highways and the ancient city with bicycles. On November 9, police blocked bicycles from entering highways between Zhengzhou and Kaifeng, citing road safety concerns. Radio Free Asia, funded by the US government, collected video footage from mainland Chinese social media and reported on the crackdown:

(Second mass night trip to Kaifeng: police block roads and passengers walk on foot)
The Henan riders left in the early hours of November 9 to embark on the second #NightRidetoKaifeng mass. Bicycles from carpooling platforms occupied the road for dozens of kilometers, and the authorities were alerted. Non-motorized vehicles have been banned from entering the Zhengzhou section of #ZhengkaiAvenue. A large number of bicycles were left in front of Da Liang Gate in Kaifeng City by students. Traffic was blocked.

In addition to traffic control, major bike-sharing platforms have reimposed restrictions on their bikes, prohibiting riders from taking them outside designated areas, and various Chinese social media sources have reported that many colleges and universities of Henan Province had locked down their campus to prevent students from participating in night rides.

There has been much discussion and speculation on Chinese social media regarding the authorities’ sudden change of heart.

THE official explanation This is because the city of Kaifeng does not have enough capacity to accommodate so many bikers and the arrival of tens of thousands of bicycles has paralyzed road traffic.

According to Professor Limany bikers found this unfair. A biker who had participated in the bike ride through the city noted that these crowds were caused by the city of Kaifeng’s choice to offer free tickets to its tourist sites in order to boost its own reputation. He argued that the students were not the cause of the traffic jams and had no political agenda since they had undertaken the bike ride to participate in a group activity. Professor Li added:

這次事件反映的第一件事，我覺得是現在年輕人是渴望參與公共活動的。這種自發性的大規人民群眾能有那麼大的熱情，我覺得最大的原因是，公共活動的參與。

First, this incident reflects the desire of young people to participate in public activities. This type of spontaneous large-scale crowd gathering activity in China is extremely rare, and calling the incident a “fad” is not convincing enough. The reason for people’s enthusiasm is that this kind of activity triggers a certain emotion (which is lacking), because in mainland China we rarely have the opportunity to participate in civil and public activities.

However, despite the students’ intentions, the state quickly perceived the cycling collective as a threat. On November 9, many universities and colleges in Henan issued lockdown notices. To prevent students from participating in the nighttime commute to Kaifeng, some schools required students to obtain a special permit leave campus. Some lockdown notices posted online also indicated that the decision came from the provincial or higher government, with strong formulations which suggests that the incident could affect social stability.

So what are the authorities so worried about? Dialogue China, an online analysis publication, highlighted the skyrocketing problem of youth unemployment:

Recently, students from Zhengzhou launched a grand “night ride” to Kaifeng. Participation reached its peak on November 8. The bike park stretched for dozens of kilometers (the entire highway) was filled with shared bikes. This sort of “special tourist troop” worries the authorities, who warn of the risks of foreign interference. Netizens joked that the decades-long plan to merge Zhengzhou and Kaifeng was ultimately carried out by student cyclists. The context of this incident concerns the growing problem of youth unemployment. With 11.79 million students graduating in 2024, youth unemployment could reach 46.5 percent (an estimate from 2023).

Political speculation

As the students’ actions began to attract worldwide attention, foreign dissidents began to create political associations around the incident.

A few argued that Kaifeng (開封) in Chinese means to open or unseal and that going up to Kaifeng symbolizes walking towards opening. Some also speculated that the repression of the authorities was triggered by the sensitive word “Baozi”, nickname of Xi Jinping.

Whatever the reason, the Chinese authorities’ panic has sparked good laughs on overseas Chinese social media. @QGHDZThe song went viral on YouTube and X:

The words are full of irony:

黨啊！親愛的媽媽 / 您不要慌不要怕 / 我們沒有說您的懷話 / 更不敢把您罵 / 我們只是到開封吃吃包子 / 同學們一起說說話 / 這個國家您是老大 / 14億人只聽您的話 / 我們敬愛的習大大 / 多次為包子站台和講話 / 雖沒北京、天津的包子名氣大 / 我們開封的包子味道也不差

Gone (CCP)! Dear Mo. Don’t panic. Don’t be afraid. We didn’t say bad things about you. We did not dare to criticize you. We just went to Kaifeng to eat steamed buns. To chat with our classmates. You are the leader of this country. 1.4 billion people only listen to you. Our beloved Xi the Great. Has I stood up and spoke for the buns several times. But they are not as famous as those in Beijing and Tianjin. The flavor of our Kaifeng buns is not bad either.