10M Shenzhen Residents Go “Ape”: Honking Banned Citywide, Drivers Yell and Use Squeaky Chickens

Slow down, slow down. I'm passing. I'm coming through. Hey, can't you hear me? There's no other way. You can't honk while driving in Shenzhen now, so you have to shout. I'm almost afraid to drive anymore. I'm used to honking, and one accidental beep will cost me 300 yuan. With my habits, I could end up paying several thousand yuan in fines every day. Shenzhen has announced a new ban on honking. Starting November 1st, motor vehicles will be barred from sounding their horns on all roads across the city 24 hours a day. The rule will remain in effect for five years. Violators could face a 300 yuan fine rising to 500 yuan for each offense from the third violation within a year. Even one accidental honk a month could cost more than 5,000 yuan a year. The policy has prompted jokes about residents turning into monkeys, shouting instead of honking. People in Shenzhen have also been sharing parody videos with soundtracks of monkeys and apes calling. It seems the whole city has entered a new era of returning to its primal roots. The honking ban has made the streets louder rather than quieter. Some people joked that Xiaomi's CEO Lei Jun had seen this coming. Xiaomi cars already have microphones so drivers can shout, Hey you up ahead, do you know how to drive? Use your turn signal. They quipped that his real insight was understanding conditions in China and anticipating Communist Party policy. One Shenzhen driver was waiting at a traffic light. It turned green, but the car ahead did not move. Come on, it's green and he's still sitting there. He's on his phone, the driver shouted. He reached for the horn, but his friend in the passenger seat grabbed his hand and reminded him that one honk would cost 300 yuan. Unsure what to do, he asked for advice. His friend told him to switch on the car's loudspeaker. He then shouted at the car ahead, get moving, followed by a string of curses. I'm turning left, I'm turning left, everyone watch out, I'm turning left, oh, oh, I can't honk, but I can still shout, right? The video creator questioned whether drivers now needed to train their voices before coming to Shenzhen. With horns off-limits, the creator doubted that shouting would help, and criticized the policy as absurd. Starting next month, Shenzhen is banning honking on every road around the clock. I've taken out my microphone. Watch, let me try it. Why aren't you using your turn signal? This netizen asked what workarounds others had in mind, adding that their own microphone was already fully charged. Others have hung squeaky rubber chickens and small gongs from their rearview mirrors. They squeeze the toys and strike the gongs while driving to mock the policy. Some people complained that Shenzhen drivers now have to shout to be heard. Each honk cost 300 yuan, rising to 500 yuan from the third offense within a year. A few careless beeps could send a chunk of their wages straight to the traffic police. Drivers once used their horns to vent their frustration. Now the cost of fines is forcing them to control their tempers. Others recall the driving instructor's remark, if you're not going to use the horn, you might as well have it removed when you buy the car. They joke that Shenzhen has made that advice reality. The frustration has not gone away. Drivers have simply lost one way to release it. They once could give a couple of beeps in a traffic jam. Now they risk a fine for using the horn at all. Some have proposed removing the horn button from the steering wheel so they will not be tempted. Others are asking whether they could get a discount if the horn became an optional extra. Some have brought out their children's squeaky rubber chickens, giving them a squeeze when the car ahead will not move. They see it as a legal way to let off steam. Others roll down their windows and shout, turning the non-honking zone into a scene of public performance art. But some question how the policy would be enforced. Everyone says honking will be banned across Shenzhen from November 1st, all day and all night. What equipment will they use to tell who honked? Can they catch people? What if everyone honks at once? Can they catch them all? Whenever I pull away, the big vehicles behind me, trucks or buses, just keep beeping. They beep when they turn and when they go straight. I'm really curious how they will catch people. Is the technology that good? What if everyone beeps? Can they identify them? I really want to know. Industry professionals say cities across China have introduced urban honking bans in recent years. They argue that these blanket rules appear to target noise pollution, but actually serve to raise revenue amid fiscal strain. Drivers mainly use horns to warn others of sudden hazards, they say. With large numbers of novice and unsafe drivers taking to China's roads in recent years, road rage and crashes have also risen sharply. In their view, those conditions explain why drivers honk, and the authorities' sweeping measures fail to address the root problem. First, let's look at some recent examples of unsafe driving and road rage in China. Watch the silver sedan on the left. It keeps straddling the lane markings and looks ready to cut in. The driver filming this does not give way and accelerates past it. The sedan tries to force its way in without even signaling. Most drivers would probably be reluctant to let it in, but the silver sedan's driver then loses his temper. Look, he comes racing up on the right and tries to cut off the car with the dash cam again. And then, watch the white car ahead on the right. After turning right, it crosses several lanes and nearly hits the car filming. The driver appears unaware of how dangerous that was, accelerates and tries to squeeze in again without signaling. The dashcam driver keeps honking, but the other driver ignores it. The dashcam driver then accelerates past, even after being called out. The white car's driver shows no concern and again changes lanes across a solid line. The narrator blames that driver for what follows and expresses satisfaction with the outcome. Here, the dashcam car is traveling normally. Watch the white SUV on the left. Its driver signals and immediately starts changing lanes without checking that there is room. The dashcam driver accelerates and blocks it. The driver says a gap was a safe following distance, not an invitation to force a way in. The SUV driver then becomes angry, races up against on the left, and forces another lane change. The dashcam driver has no time to react. The narrator describes the resulting collision as a pit maneuver and says the SUV driver bears full responsibility. Now watch another dangerous encounter. The light ahead is green. The large van in front seems impatient, tailgating the car ahead and trying to pass. But the SUV on the right is maintaining a steady pace, leaving the van no opening. The van then cuts sharply in front of the SUV, startling its driver. That dangerous move sets off the SUV driver's anger. Look, the SUV accelerates to chase the van. It's going so fast that most people could not keep up. At first, it looks as though the driver wants to confront the van's driver. Instead, the SUV pulls up and starts cutting it off. Both vehicles are wrecked within moments. People commented, That van driver and SUV driver at the end are quite a pair. Both drive badly. Both seem to have psychological problems. Another wrote, I really think that driving tests should include mental health and stress tests. Some people freeze when danger appears. They don't brake or steer. They just scream or cover their eyes. A third said, Watching these videos online is one thing. In real life, give way when you can. Nobody truly wins in a crash. Both sides lose. Some people link unsafe driving habits in China to the sharp rise in household car ownership in recent years, which has brought many new drivers onto the roads. They say the limited number and capacity of driving schools has struggled to meet the surge in demand, making teaching quality hard to ensure. Some poor-quality schools offer little real training, while serious corruption allows people without adequate driving skills to obtain licenses. Once on the road, these unqualified drivers pose hidden safety risks and can become a danger to others. A video creator recently described a case in Shenzhen as a striking example. A woman's actions led to penalties for drivers across an entire residential community and the closure of after-school tutoring centers along a whole street. Here, here. It's such a wide road. Driver, just go this way. My home is right by the entrance. This is a right turn only lane, you know. Going that way would mean driving against traffic. The woman then shouts, I live right here, of course I know. Everyone in our residential complex turns this way. The woman got into a ride-hailing car with an older person and a child. At the intersection, the driver was about to turn right as the navigation instructed. She started directing him, saying she was in a hurry to take the child to a tutoring class, and demanded that he cut straight across into the opposite lane, because that was how they usually went. The driver firmly refused, saying it was a right turn only lane and could not drive against traffic. She became angry and said, Everyone in our community drives this way. I live here. Of course I know. She threatened to cancel the ride and call the police and said she was being held against her will. The driver had no choice but to call the police himself. Traffic officers arrived and confirmed that the lane was for right turns only and that crossing through was prohibited. The woman then insisted in front of the officers that everyone in her community drove that way. According to the creator, that remark led to drivers throughout the community having to retake the written driving test. The officers decided to investigate. They reviewed surveillance footage and penalized every vehicle that had broken the rule at that intersection over the previous three months. One violation meant three penalty points and a 200 yuan fine. Two meant six points and 400 yuan. One man received 72 penalty points, an 8,400 yuan fine, and four days of road safety education arranged by the Vehicle Administration Office. The creator suggested that the other residents knew the rule but ignored it, while this woman truly did not understand. And remember the tutoring class she mentioned? Such classes are a target of the authorities' crackdown. The nearby tutoring centers were all shut down as well. People left comments such as, the fines are the least of it. The main thing is that all the tutoring centers were shut down, another wrote. She was heavily criticized in a group chat and moved out of the community afterward, a third joked. The traffic police must be laughing. They've even met next year's targets ahead of time. Others said they did not know whether the woman had a license, but argued that the drivers in her community could not have received proper driving instructions, or they would not make such a basic mistake. With surveillance cameras everywhere, they said, driving that way was simply generating a fine revenue for the traffic police. Analysts say that alongside the increase in novice drivers and poor driving instruction, the economic downturn is another major factor behind widespread road rage. Many people in China face intense stress and growing anger, problems that a blanket honking ban cannot resolve. As China's economy remains weak, more people are experiencing homelessness in major cities, including Shenzhen, once known for its rapid growth. Many food delivery riders say rents in Shenzhen are beyond what their meager earnings can recover. A small tent in a park, under a bridge, or beside a building in a secluded area becomes a temporary home. In a recent article in The Hill, American columnist Gordon Chang cited a report released last year estimating that China had about 47.5 million homeless people. That's more than five times the official pre-pandemic figure from 2020. You might not believe what life here is really like now. On the surface, the roads are busy and luxury cars are everywhere. Shenzhen Boulevard and other central areas are jammed, but Shenzhen is a top-tier city where most people earn only 5,000 to 6,000 yuan a month, while the average is pushed above 10,000 yuan. In renewable energy, artificial intelligence and semiconductors, jobs affected by AI are being cut, wages are falling and teams are shrinking. Small and mid-sized tech startups have become one-person businesses. Those of us who rent properties and sublet them can feel it clearly. Foreign-funded companies are having an even harder time. Only a few leading firms still have thriving businesses. Most factory workers are borrowing from one source to pay another. Executives who bought homes are juggling Huawei credit and credit cards to protect their credit records. Economic pressure also affects many ride-hailing drivers in Shenzhen, leaving them more prone to road rage. Here's an exchange between a passenger and a driver. Hurry up, hurry up, I'm running late. Ma'am, the speed limit here is about 37 miles an hour. I can't go any faster. Hurry up, I just cancelled another ride because the driver was too far away. I picked your car because you were closer. Drive faster. You make it sound like I should be thanking you. There are plenty of ride requests, more than we can take. They just don't pay much. I'm a driver too, so I know how the other driver must feel. Someone was on the way to pick you up, and you cancelled halfway there. That's unfair to them. What's it to you? I cancelled someone else's ride. Just drive. Now that you're in my car, I'll get you there as quickly as I safely can. Stop talking. Just hurry up. Are you really in such a hurry? There are taxis all over the train station. You could have flagged one down and left right away. Instead, you booked a ride, waited for a driver, and complained that the car wasn't there yet. Are you short of time or short of money? If you were really in a hurry, you would have taken a taxi already. I'm going to report you. What business is it of yours? You're short of money. Otherwise, why book a ride-hailing car? There's a whole line of taxis right outside the train station. And you're not? Why are you driving for a ride-hailing service? Yes, I'm short of money. I admit it. The problem is that you won't admit it and insist on keeping up appearances. Get out and take a taxi. Stop making trouble for both of us. I'm not paying. Some people commented that the ride-hailing driver ended up angry and without receiving any payment, leaving him at risk of road rage. Shenzhen, once seen as a city for making money, is now struggling, and the slump is also affecting local government revenue. Other cities, including Shanghai and Changsha, have similar honking bans, but do not prohibit it on every road as Shenzhen does. Even a ban should have detailed rules that target prolonged honking, rather than all use of the horn. Japan also restricts unnecessary honking under strict rules that generally prohibit it while allowing exceptions. The commentary argues that Shenzhen's sudden introduction of such a sweeping, hard-to-enforce policy reflects a shortage of funds in its public security and traffic police departments. It contends that raising revenue rather than solving traffic problems is the aim. Judging by the response from drivers and people online, it concludes that the policy will leave the city more anxious and under greater strain.