--- description: Markings have appeared on a section of sidewalk in Chongqing, southwest China, demarcating a “no cell phone” lane title: Chinese City Sets Up 'No-Cellphone' Sidewalk image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaacf2b76a7e0fcb5/6986a33cf983e7498f04f9da/china-cellphone-lane_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Chinese City Sets Up 'No Cell Phone' Pedestrian Lanes by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 15, 2014 9:38 AM CUT  In this photo taken Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014, residents walk on a lane painted with instructions to separate those using their phones as they walk from others in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. In this photo taken Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014, residents walk on a lane painted with instructions to separate those using their phones as they walk from others in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.AP by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 15, 2014 9:38 AM CUT Chongqing, a vast municipality of 28 million in southwest China, has come up with a lighthearted strategy to remind pedestrians of the dangers of looking down at a smartphone while walking — separate lanes for people using or not using their devices. Signs and street markings appeared recently in a short section of paving in the city’s entertainment district, indicating that one section of the sidewalk would be a “no cell phone” lane, the Associated Press reports. “There are lots of elderly people and children in our street, and walking with your cell phone may cause unnecessary collisions here,” said Nong Cheng, a spokeswoman for the district’s property management company. However, she clarified that the initiative was meant to be a satirical way to highlight the dangers of texting and walking. Many pedestrians have been stopping to take pictures of the markings and the signage, although Nong said most of them don’t actually adhere to the guidelines. The [inspiration](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/tv-show-puts-fast-and-slow-lanes-dc-sidewalk "undefined") for the dual sidewalk came from _National Geographic_ in the U.S., which created similar divisions on a section of pavement in Washington, D.C., in July as part of a televised behavior experiment. \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/china-creates-its-first-no-cellphone-sidewalk-lane "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3376782/chongqing-smartphone-sidewalk-meixin-group/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3376782/chongqing-smartphone-sidewalk-meixin-group/"},"headline":"Chinese City Sets Up 'No Cell Phone' Pedestrian Lanes","datePublished":"2014-09-15T09:38:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:13:11.319Z","description":"Texting and tweeting? Then keep to the left, people","url":"https://time.com/3376782/chongqing-smartphone-sidewalk-meixin-group/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Smartphones","texting","China"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaacf2b76a7e0fcb5/6986a33cf983e7498f04f9da/china-cellphone-lane_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaacf2b76a7e0fcb5/6986a33cf983e7498f04f9da/china-cellphone-lane_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"China Cellphone Lane","caption":"China Cellphone Lane","creditText":"AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3376782/chongqing-smartphone-sidewalk-meixin-group/","name":"Chinese City Sets Up 'No Cell Phone' Pedestrian Lanes"}}]}] ```