China: Thousands of students storm the roadway to purchase Kaifeng dumplings, prompting a crackdown on bike rides.

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A social media craze in China got up to 200,000 young people, who hired bikes for as low as £1.51 per month, to ride from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng in search of soup dumplings.

Following a highway barricade by thousands of bike riders, Chinese authorities quelled a social media craze. Image: AP
The Chinese government has cracked down on a social media craze that has been going viral: hundreds of students are renting bikes at all hours of the night to go soup dumpling shopping.

To discourage students from making the 37-mile trek, police in Henan province blocked down bike lanes that ran between Zhengzhou and Kaifeng.

Photos from Friday night showed a group of students in central China blocking a roadway; some of the participants dubbed them the Night Riding Army.

According to local sources, a significant number of young people—as many as 200,000—rented bikes for as low as £1.51 per month in order to go to Kaifeng and try the world-renowned guantangbao soup dumplings.

“People sang together and cheered for each other while climbing uphill together,” Liu Lulu, a student at Henan University, told state media outlet China Daily about the event.

The enthusiasm of the youth was palpable. And that was just the bike ride.

‘Night Riding Army’ last night was just incredible! Even with the addition of two lanes, the bicycle army still managed to account for four!

The four young women from Zhengzhou who made the unexpected travel for the dumplings in June started the trend. Since then, the bike trips have become popular among Chinese social media users.

After complaints from residents of Kaifeng about problems such as bikes being placed in an unsafe way near local monuments, which made it difficult for pedestrians to cross the streets, the bike lanes connecting the two cities were temporarily closed, according to China Daily.

Three of the province’s most prominent bike rental companies, Hellobike, DiDi Bike, and Mobike, sent out a unified message on Saturday, warning riders that their bikes would lock themselves out of certain areas in Zhengzhou.

Despite the Kaifeng government’s assertion that “youth needs passion,” they urged the students from Zhengzhou to be mindful of public safety and refrain from riding in huge masses.

Following a crackdown on Halloween parties in Shanghai, several people reportedly faced arrest for dressing as COVID inspectors or CCTV cameras on the night of October 31st, 2023, in an apparent attempt to make political statements.

Protests against China’s COVID-zero policy peaked in 2022 in Shanghai, just after the government surprisingly withdrew all restrictions.