According to SCMP, the man named Zhou, in his 40s, is from Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province (China). He met his wife Li in Shanghai and married her in 2007.
After divorcing in 2013, the couple reconciled and remarried, welcoming a son and a daughter. However, they eventually separated due to personal conflicts.
“There was no serious problem between us, it was just that we were both very stubborn and acted impulsively, which led to many breakups and reconciliations,” Zhou explained. He said they still kept in touch and both hoped to get back together.
Li shared: "He contacted me and said he wanted to get back together. I joked that I was driving to Lhasa, if he could cycle there, I could consider reconciliation.
Honestly, I just said that jokingly, I didn't expect him to actually do it."
Zhou started his cycling journey from Nanjing on July 28 and covered 4,400 kilometers in nearly 100 days. He finally arrived in Lhasa on October 28.
During his journey, Zhou suffered from heatstroke twice to the point of having to be hospitalized for treatment and rest. Notably, during the heatstroke in Yichang (Hubei, China), he collapsed on the road and was taken to the emergency room.
“The situation in Yichang was quite serious, my wife even drove hundreds of kilometers to take care of me,” Zhou recalled.
Seeing her husband's sincerity, Li repeatedly advised him to give up. However, Zhou refused and was determined to complete the trip, proving his sincerity.
After taking care of Zhou, Li drove back and suffered from altitude sickness in Nyingchi (400km from Lhasa), forcing Zhou to rush to her rescue. After she recovered, they continued their journey together to Lhasa. Upon their arrival on October 28, they held a small reconciliation ceremony and formally announced their reunion.
Zhou is now planning his next cycling trip to Nepal and Europe, while Li has returned home to Jiangsu province.
“I didn’t go back with her because I planned to continue cycling. My next stop was Nepal. She also said she might come find me when she felt better,” Zhou said.
In 2023, there were about 3.61 million divorces in China, resulting in a divorce rate of 2.6/1,000.
In 2021, the Chinese government enacted a new law requiring couples to undergo a 30-day “cooling off” period, meaning they must wait 30 days after filing for divorce before finalizing their separation.
The couple’s story has received mixed reactions. Some people congratulated the couple on their happy ending, while others said the couple was irresponsible in their marriage and children.
Some netizens left comments: "It seems touching, but the core problem is that both of them are too stubborn. Their personalities are hard to change", "Who will take care of the children during their trip? Don't they need to go to school?"...
