Zhou Zhaosheng pushes his chainless bicycle into Youyang County Town
Zhou Zhaosheng picks up litter he sees on the street and puts it into trash bins
On the morning of New Year’s Eve, a dark-skinned man dressed in old clothes pushed a chainless bicycle into Youyang County North New District Avenue. The bike had a red flag attached and was loaded with various woven bags. It was inscribed with the message, “Protecting the Earth’s environmental hygiene is everyone’s responsibility. Thank you for your sincere cooperation, every citizen!” He attracted the attention of many passersby as he walked along the street. From time to time, he bent down to pick up fruit peels and white garbage carelessly discarded by pedestrians. His warm greetings of “Happy New Year” to those passing by were especially touching.
Hiking through more than ten provinces and cities
Some say he is a cycling enthusiast, but he doesn’t seem to be, because his bicycle has no chain; others say he is a vagrant, but he isn’t either, although his bags are filled with many used bottles. The faded red flag attached to his bike, inscribed with the words “Protecting the Earth’s environmental hygiene is everyone’s responsibility. Thank you for your sincere cooperation, every citizen!” is particularly eye-catching.
According to my investigation, his name is Zhou Zhaosheng. He is from Houxiangshan Village, Liquan Town, Tongshan County, Jiangsu Province, and is a voluntary environmental advocate. Since April 2010, he set out on foot from his hometown in Jiangsu, pushing this chainless bicycle, and arrived in Youyang, Chongqing, on New Year’s Eve. Over the past three years, he has traveled through more than 10 provinces and cities including Anhui, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Chongqing. With practical actions, he promotes environmental protection and influences everyone around him.
According to Zhou Zhaosheng, he has worked as a mason and a coal miner in construction teams. He observed that as the country grows wealthier and people’s living standards improve, environmental awareness remains weak, the environment continues to deteriorate, and littering can be seen everywhere. To raise public awareness about environmental protection, he resolutely began advocating for the environment, despite opposition from his family.
How can environmental advocacy be effective and gain public understanding? Zhou Zhaosheng decided to start with himself, using the method of hiking across China to promote environmental protection, maintain public hygiene, and also safeguard people’s mental well-being.
Influencing those around him through practical actions
Along the way, whenever Zhou Zhaosheng saw litter on the ground, he would take the initiative to pick it up and sort it. If it was recyclable waste such as plastic bottles, he would sell it to support the living expenses needed for his environmental advocacy. If he saw sanitation workers cleaning the streets, he would offer to help; if he saw someone littering, he would step forward to dissuade them.
Sometimes, many people didn’t understand him and often met him with questions like, “What’s it to you?” Faced with such situations, he would pick up the litter in front of the litterer and put it into the pocket on his bicycle. He said, some people eat better than him, dress better than him, so why is their quality lower than that of a vagrant? He wants to influence these people through practical actions, so they, in turn, can influence more people.
I noticed that Zhou Zhaosheng’s bicycle had no chain at all—just two wheels. He said that if it had a chain, it wouldn’t be called hiking. He set out from his hometown in Jiangsu and never once rode any vehicle, pushing the bicycle step by step all the way. When tired, he would unstrap his sleeping bag; when hungry, he would take out the small pot from the bike basket, find some firewood, and cook a meal.
Celebrating Spring Festival in Youyang, Lantern Festival in Hunan
Zhou Zhaosheng told me that he had originally planned to stay a few more days in Qianjiang. Having heard that Youyang is a gathering place for the Tujia and Miao ethnic groups with very simple and honest ethnic customs, and also learning that Youyang is a national-level civilized county town currently creating a national-level landscape garden city and a hygienic city, he arrived in Youyang on the evening before New Year’s Eve.
He said that as soon as he arrived in Youyang, he met kind people. A Youyang TV reporter in his twenties brought him a hot New Year’s Eve dinner, which deeply moved him. When they offered to arrange accommodation for him, he declined. He said that for the past few years, he has always found a wind-sheltered corner and used his sleeping bag to sleep.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, he watched a cultural performance at Taohuayuan Square. After touring the entire city, he felt that Youyang is indeed a nice place with good environmental hygiene and high civic quality. He said he would leave Youyang on the third day of the Lunar New Year, take two days to reach Xiushan, stay there for two days, then conclude his promotional activities in Chongqing, and enter Hunan to celebrate the Lantern Festival in Zhangjiajie.