I just wanted to share this story from today's newsfeed, which I thought might raise a few smiles. In honour of the four intrepid chinese students, should we begin a competition to see which cycle blazer can generate the most populous tour? 😁

Remarkable.  It makes me wonder if it’s not an implicit political statement or protest of some sort.

I've never ridden 50 kilometers for dumplings with 100,000 other cyclists, but I have ridden an average of 90 km over the course of seven consecutive days for pork chops, corn on the cob, local beer, and other Iowa delicacies.  RAGBRAI is kind of a big cycling event in the U.S.  It has grown from a little cross-state ride involving a few dozen people to a huge enterprise that hosts anywhere from 10,00o to 50,000 cyclists per day.  (More near the larger cities, less in the remote rural areas.)

I had a lot of fun during my six RAGBRAIs, but riding among all those people can be a bit stressful.  Therefore, I'll pass on your challenge of generating The Most Populous Tour and stick to my one-man Least Populous Tours.

The name "Dumpling Revolution" sounds really cool to me, but I think it's merely bored and relatively privileged college kids having fun. 

Civil authorities won't tolerate people taking over the streets, even for fun.
An out of control party could easily evolve into an out of control protest.

The article shows that China is FAR ahead of the U.S. in one big way.

Can you imagine a U.S. college town with 50,000 share bikes?

I did the Hotter N Hell Hundred in Texas twice, with about 10,000 other cyclists. It took 40 minutes for all the bikes to cross the starting line on a 3 lane wide roadway. I was in my 20's at the time and enjoyed the thrill of seeing cyclists on the road as far as I can see ahead or behind. I wouldn't even consider doing that now just to ride on ordinary roads. I don't want to deal with the crowds and lines. 

I would consider putting up with crowds to bike on scenic roads that aren't normally available to cyclists. One possibility is the Bridge Pedal in Portland, Oregon where 20,000 cyclists ride on scenic highway bridges that aren't normally used for cycling.

The last mass ride I remember doing was also on a closed expressway.
Bike the Drive in Chicago in 2002.

With a couple of friends, I started a recreational ride group we now call The Friday Peloton, with the never ending mission to seek out The Holy Grail of unserious cyclists… the perfect coffee shop. 

Weather permitting, we ride every Friday morning. In the ten or so years we’ve been meeting, we never once managed to ride as a true peloton.

What began as a two person ‘peloton’ has grown to eight, nine or occasionally 12 riders. I’m confident that given enough time, we could gather at least 20 riders. 

To gather 100,000 will be the new goal after reading this story.:)

I taught English for a year in Xiamen, a  large university on China's south coast. My experience was that the students worked hard at their studies and were from all levels of ssociety, not a priveleged lot paying high tuition.

I don't know if you've ever heard the dulcet tones of Katie Melua, but she does seem to suggest that there's scope for the movement to grow even more. 😆

Nine million bicycles...

She’s taken this message, and song, to some pretty remote places …. Like this:

Deep Sea concert

303 m below the Norwegian North Sea in one of the legs of the Troll A oil production platform.

I realize this is an off ramp to the thread but this is where I first came across this song.