Over the weekend, authorities in Kaifeng and Zhengzhou closed off bike lanes on Zhengkai Avenue, to try to stop cyclists from entering. To prevent students from joining the cycling crowd, some colleges and universities in Zhengzhou even imposed restrictions on leaving campus, according to accounts shared by students on social media. In the spring of 1989, university students in Beijing rode their bikes to Tiananmen Square to join pro-democracy protests that ended in a bloody crackdown by the Chinese military. Their journey quickly went viral, inspiring more Zhengzhou students to follow suit as the hashtag “youth is priceless” trended on social media. Others said local authorities should have been better prepared for the influx of students before they jumped in to promote the trend.

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Persons: Hong Kong CNN —, Xi, Douyin, Kaifeng, ”, “ Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Communist, Communist Party, Henan University, China City Daily Locations: Hong Kong, Kaifeng, China’s Henan, Zhengzhou –, Zhengzhou, China, Beijing, Taiwan, Henan, Weibo