Six years ago, to welcome the Beijing Olympics, he traveled across the country pulling an iron-canopied flatbed cart; after the Olympics ended, he chose to keep "walking" in order to set a Guinness World Record for hiking across China. On the evening of the 25th, this Hebei native, hailed by media nationwide as the Olympic "Cart King" or "Cart Hero," Chen You, arrived in Zhangpu County.
On the morning of the 26th, at the north gate of West Lake Park in Zhangpu County, a rather "stylish" cart attracted the attention of many passersby. Inside the cart sat a man wearing a red sports tank top and draped in a black cloak—he was the cart’s owner, Chen You. In the cramped cart were a gas cylinder, a hemp cloth bed, a few pieces of clothing, and a thick stack of documents... This was all his worldly belongings.
Chen You said he is from Handan, Hebei, 55 years old, and a retired soldier. He started biking across the country at age 26 and changed his name from "Chen Shuzhi" to "Chen You." At the end of 2004, Chen You built a 3-meter-long, 1-meter-high iron flatbed cart himself and began his "Cart National Tour" in September 2005. Starting from Handan, Hebei, he passed through Beijing, Tianjin, Jinan, Qingdao, Nanjing, Fujian, and other places, arriving in Beijing on April 27, 2008, where he walked the streets for over two months. After the Beijing Olympics ended, he continued his hike across China, aiming to set a Guinness record: hiking across China while pulling a flatbed cart.
Over the past six years, Chen You has hiked through more than 1,000 cities in 29 provinces including Zhejiang, with Fujian being the 29th province he has reached on foot. He said, "I came from Shanghai and will head to Zhangzhou and Xiamen tomorrow."
Since beginning his national hike, Chen You has worn out 78 pairs of shoes. "Each day I pull the cart, walking up to 40 kilometers on the longest days," having now covered 30,000 kilometers. Along the way, he endured many hardships—blisters on his feet became common, and minor illnesses were treated by himself. In the Golmud Kunlun region of Qinghai, Chen You once went nearly 10 days without seeing anyone else, faced 11-level gales, and had his cart flipped over more than 20 times. When the cart broke, he repaired it himself and continued on. Chen You sweated through every mile but also gathered countless acts of kindness; everywhere he went, local people warmly offered help.
Chen You said his daily life is very simple: waking up early to record his journey, check his itinerary, and get postmarks at the local post office. So far, he has collected over 1,000 postmarks. He plans to achieve the goal of hiking through all of China’s provinces and striving for the Guinness record by 2015.