The “Night Ride to Kaifeng” started in June, with four university students riding 50km from Zhengzhou in China’s Henan Province to Kaifeng on public bikes in search of soup dumplings.
On Friday last week, about 100,000 joined the night biking trend. One of the university students who took part in the bike ride said they were letting off steam.
This self-mobilized, youthful adventure is a reflection of the pressure felt by young Chinese, their anxiety and feeling of helplessness about their future.
The night ride offered university students in Zhengzhou a chance to escape their oppressive school routine.
There are more than 40 universities in the city, many of which are in remote areas and adopt closed-off management.
As a result, university students usually have small social circles and limited living space.
Many of them become anxious and face a lot of pressure, especially when they apply for postgraduate schools, jobs and government employee examinations. They feel anxious and claustrophobic, struggling to breathe.
The night ride reflected the state of mind of these young people. They were desperate to participate in mass collective action in search of a sense of belonging and community.
Increasingly more young people in China have lost interest in dating, getting married, buying a house or having children.
By taking part in an unconventional event like the night ride they are choosing to avoid an uncertain future and create their own happiness and freedom outside of the social order.
Cheering for each other on the way and erupting into cheers and whistles after arriving at the destination were ways to collectively let off steam.
The event was not political in nature, but it still filled the Chinese Communist Party with a sense of apprehension. Having prevailed upon the youth about the need to work hard and put their noses to the grinding stone, it was distrustful of this show of youthful spontaneity. This disjuncture speaks volumes about the problems of social governance in China.
Young people are feeling frustrated and alienated. They face the prospect of unemployment after they graduate.
The problem cannot be solved by simply imposing restrictions or prohibitions, which could further polarize and divide society, paving the way for what could be the final straw of a potential social collapse.
Liao Ming-hui is an assistant researcher at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research.
Translated by Fion Khan
KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) recent visit to Beijing and her upcoming visit to Washington will serve as a high-level test of her diplomatic mettle. In Beijing, Cheng was received with symbolic gestures, a warm reception, and high-level access. In Washington, she will receive far less pomp and far sharper questions about the KMT’s vision for the future of Taiwan. Her challenge will be to persuade Washington that the KMT’s engagement with China can coexist with strong deterrence. Cheng’s April 7-12 visit to mainland China coincided with an intense period of conflict in Iran. Despite the strategic significance of Cheng’s trip,
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent the vast Asian chemicals industry into a tailspin. Deprived of the likes of Qatari natural gas and Saudi Arabian oil, the region’s fertilizer and plastics plants are slowing production or even shutting down. Everywhere except China, that is. In petrochemicals, China is unique. As well as a traditional industry that uses oil and gas as feedstock, it has parallel output that relies on its abundant domestic coal. Unsurprisingly, India and other regional powers want to copy and paste the Chinese method. This would not be easy — or climate friendly. The
US President Donald Trump recently repeated his claim that “Taiwan stole America’s chip industry,” reigniting public debate on the issue. As a former Taiwanese minister of economic affairs and an entrepreneur deeply involved in semiconductor supply chain development, I feel a responsibility to clarify this misunderstanding. From the perspective of global industrial evolution and the economic principle of comparative advantage, such a statement appears overly simplistic and risks obscuring the essence of the issue. The rise of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry was not built on “replacing America,” but rather emerged as a result of countries pursuing different development paths within the
The Presidential Office on Saturday reiterated that Taiwan is a sovereign, independent nation after US President Donald Trump said that Taiwan should not “go independent.” “We’re not looking to have somebody say: ‘Let’s go independence because the United States is backing us,’” Trump said in an interview with Fox News aired on Friday. President William Lai (賴清德) on Monday said that the Republic of China (ROC) — Taiwan’s official name — and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are not subordinate to each other. Speaking at an event marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Lai said
RSS