Changsha, 17 Sept: city launches a multi-department e-bike crackdown. Illegal mods, no helmets, running lights. Delivery platforms told to slow their algorithms.

Official reason: safety.

Actual reason:

two days earlier a Hunan provincial leader — posts say deputy Party secretary, some say Party secretary Shen Xiaoming — was knocked down or startled by a delivery rider while out walking.

Rider didn’t know what was hit. Called the old man a pengci scammer (vase breaking scammer, common in China).

First cops didn’t recognize him either. Then the man’s secretary was called. Then the traffic-police chief.

Netizens:

“哪家的老爷被撞了”
So it was that family’s old master.
(Refer to old meme that action is done when someone important was hurt)

“普通人被撞是倒霉，领导被撞就成了社会问题。”
Ordinary person gets hit: bad luck. Leader gets hit: a social problem.

“重生：我被外卖小哥撞了，而我有那么一点点权力”
Reborn: I Got Knocked Down by a Delivery Rider, and I Have a Little Bit of Power.

Flashback they keep attaching: 2006, Zhong Nanshan robbed in Guangzhou, then argued China should never have abolished the old migrant round-up system.

National cap is 25 km/h. Platform timers are not. Enforcement was background noise until the pedestrian wasn’t interchangeable.