More than 100,000 Chinese students took part in a 37-mile night-time bike ride on a quest for soup dumplings, bringing a main highway to a standstill.

The “Night Riding Army”, as some participants called it, rode for hours after a huge turnout for the rolling flash mob that had been gathering riders for months.

It was inspired by a viral craze of young Chinese trying to travel as cheaply as possible in the face of high youth unemployment and scarce job prospects.

The “soft protest” movement was first set off in June when four female college students chronicled their ride on social media to try guantangbao, a type of soup dumpling.