Cycling friends support low-carbon wedding
Bike handlebars adorned with flower baskets, six empty cola bottles tied to the rear rack, making a rumbling sound like firecrackers as they ride. Yesterday, in Cuihua Community on Shakou Road, Zhengzhou City, groom Zhou Shujie rode a bicycle gifted by his girlfriend and invited over 100 cycling enthusiasts to join in welcoming his bride home. Along the way, this environmentally friendly and low-carbon wedding ceremony attracted many onlookers.
At 9:50 a.m. yesterday, the wedding “convoy” that was to pick up the bride, Ge Yanan, set off from the home of the groom, Zhou Shujie. Before the bikes even started moving, an elderly resident in the neighborhood, around 70 or 80 years old, looked at the scene in front of him with both surprise and curiosity. He approached the “wedding bike” and inspected it from all sides, repeatedly exclaiming, “The young people sure have great ideas.”
Unlike other bridal car convoys, this one was led by Zhou Shujie on a bicycle, followed closely by over 100 cycling friends dressed in yellow-and-red outfits from various districts and counties in Zhengzhou, slowly pedaling along the non-motorized lane of Shakou Road.
From Shakou Road to the bride’s home at Jingyuan Community on Erhuan Branch Road, this not-so-long journey to pick up the bride saw encounters with car bridal convoys. Though lacking the luxury and grandeur of cars, the simple and eco-friendly bicycle procession attracted plenty of attention. A few dozen minutes later, the bicycle convoy arrived at the building where the bride lived, lining up in sequence, stretching about 200 meters.
“Tsk tsk, this is a pretty good idea. It feels more impressive than a car wedding procession,” many in the watching crowd remarked in admiration.
“I chose to welcome my wife by bicycle not only to advocate energy conservation and environmental protection, but also because it holds a special commemorative meaning,” said the 25-year-old groom Zhou Shujie. Originally from Anyang, he has been in a relationship with his girlfriend for eight years. Despite ups and downs, their bond has remained strong. As a post-80s youth, he enjoys riding a bicycle to exercise in his spare time.
“On July 12, 2010, on my birthday, my girlfriend spent 2,000 yuan to buy me a bicycle as a birthday gift,” Zhou Shujie said emotionally. After setting the wedding date with his girlfriend, she suggested that he ride the bicycle to escort her home.
When both sets of parents learned about this, they were initially somewhat reluctant, believing that “marriage is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and doing it this way seems a bit shabby.” To ease their concerns, Zhou Shujie did a cost breakdown — hiring ten bridal cars would cost around 4,000 yuan, which was not only expensive but also increased air pollution. In contrast, mobilizing cycling friends through the internet only required buying some candy and cigarettes. In the end, his parents agreed.
By noon, the bicycle bridal convoy arrived near a hotel at the intersection of Nongye Road and Shakou Road. The cycling friends who were having lunch on-site then paid for their meals themselves according to their usual practice of going Dutch. “This helps prevent ‘waste on the dining table’ and doesn’t add to the financial burden on the groom. It’s a win-win situation,” said Chen, one of the cycling friends.