Social Media Bike Trend Overwhelms Kaifeng

A social media trend called 'Night Ride to Kaifeng' has become a sensation among young people in China's Henan province, starting with four university students who biked 50km to try the city's famous soup dumplings, guantangbao. This trend expanded rapidly, with up to 200,000 students from Zhengzhou cycling to Kaifeng, leading to major traffic disruptions and public safety concerns. The influx overwhelmed Kaifeng’s infrastructure, resulting in authorities closing bike lanes and implementing measures to curb the activity, such as locking shared bikes if taken out of designated areas. Initially praised for boosting local tourism, the trend has now prompted a government clampdown due to the chaos it caused. Some universities in Zhengzhou have imposed restrictions on leaving campuses, and bike-sharing companies have restricted their services to prevent further incidents. The event has highlighted the passion and spontaneity of youth but also raised logistical challenges for local governments.