In China there was an enormous critical mass:200 thousand students traveling by bike

A group of university students reached Kaifeng City on November 8 after a five-hour journey riding shared bicycles.

In the 1994 film Forrest Gump marches across the United States with thousands of people following him.Thirty years later something similar happened in China.A group of four students from the university of Zhengzhou in June, almost as a joke, he invited people on social media to reach the city by bike Kaifeng (50 kilometers away) to taste the famous ravioli in broth (guantang bao) saving money on your trip.In just a few months the initiative has involved more and more people, so much so that last Friday 8 November a group of 200 thousand students traveled the five-hour route that separates the two cities on rental bicycles at the price of 14 yuan (1.85 euros) per month causing quite a few traffic disruptions.The Chinese authorities intervened to counter the march by closing the cycle paths.

The change of plan

At first the local authorities had looked favorably on the initiative.The city of Kaifeng had seen an opportunity to stimulate tourism in the city and tried to sponsor the kids' idea.For months, small groups of young people reached Kaifeng by bike escorted by the police and the media reported the initiative with enthusiasm.Several popular tourist attractions in Kaifeng had offered university students free entry, and some of them even gave a free annual pass for those who cycled into the city.As time passed, however, the phenomenon reached more and more people, causing inconvenience to traffic and circulation and this pushed the authorities to reverse course.“The trend could be to be more sustainable And serve Of more For relaunch the economies local In the long period if the officials local they chose Of capitalize there trend in way organic Instead Of look for Of push it with the‘help of the average central,” explains a NBC News Hongsheng Zhu, researcher at Lingnan University in Hong Kong.

Youth unemployment

Many saw the boys' initiative as a response to the poor prospects of the current Chinese job market and the faltering economy.Youth unemployment in China has reached high levels of 18.8 percent in August 2024, a much higher value than in previous months which reflects a difficult economic situation in which many young people have to decide whether to depend on their parents or have low-paid jobs.“People are so stressed these days, so these events are a good thing,” explains Alla BBC a 27 year old girl who participated in the event.“Happiness is contagious.Everyone was glowing with energy and interacting with the people around them.It was like going back to my college days.”

A long history of university gatherings

This is not the first time that very large gatherings of young people have occurred in China.The most famous case is certainly Tienamnen Square.In 1989, a group of Beijing university students joined a pro-democracy protest, and the Chinese army responded to the demonstrators by opening fire on them.It is one of the most painful pages in China's recent history and the number of victims is uncertain between hundreds and thousands of people.Two years ago, however, there was another university protest on the campuses of the main Chinese cities to demonstrate against the restrictive policies linked to spread of Covid-19.Last Friday's protest did not officially start with a political intention.Just as in the film Forrest Gump decides to leave for the United States without a specific will, so the Chinese boys decided to leave.A desire for aggregation perhaps or perhaps a cry for freedom in a difficult moment.