Foreigners helping to improve a community
By Li Jiaohao and Cai Wenjun |
July 17, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THREE foreign students have been made urban management volunteers by a community in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province.
The Xinghuacun residential community sent them out on Saturday in an effort to help maintain the city's appearance, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
The unusual sight of foreigners, two from Africa and one from Afghanistan, wearing urban management uniforms, made them the focus of attention.
They have been recruited to help deter illegal streetside vendors and illegal cabs in "a friendly manner," while reporting to urban management officers, and most people interviewed by Xinhua supported their work.
One of the volunteers said he had been in Hefei for more than a year. When he heard Hefei was bidding to become a "national civilized city," a distinction sought after by municipalities, he became inspired to help in the process.
"Foreign friends can also care about urban management in China," a spokesman for the Xinghuacun community said, adding that the city would invite more people from different backgrounds to become urban management volunteers.
Urban management officers, known as chengguan in China, operate in all Chinese cities to patrol communities to deter illegal actions and unauthorized construction. But they are often criticized for their heavy-handed tactics.
Three urban management officers in Liaoyang, in northeast China's Liaoning Province, killed a man laying cement outside his home last year.
And five officers from Shanghai's urban management bureau badly beat a street vendor in 2009.
On Sunday, Shanghai issued a rule to improve the quality of urban management officers and how they carry out their duties.
Officials from the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau said only those who received training and who passed an examination would be allowed to work as an urban management officer.
The Xinghuacun residential community sent them out on Saturday in an effort to help maintain the city's appearance, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
The unusual sight of foreigners, two from Africa and one from Afghanistan, wearing urban management uniforms, made them the focus of attention.
They have been recruited to help deter illegal streetside vendors and illegal cabs in "a friendly manner," while reporting to urban management officers, and most people interviewed by Xinhua supported their work.
One of the volunteers said he had been in Hefei for more than a year. When he heard Hefei was bidding to become a "national civilized city," a distinction sought after by municipalities, he became inspired to help in the process.
"Foreign friends can also care about urban management in China," a spokesman for the Xinghuacun community said, adding that the city would invite more people from different backgrounds to become urban management volunteers.
Urban management officers, known as chengguan in China, operate in all Chinese cities to patrol communities to deter illegal actions and unauthorized construction. But they are often criticized for their heavy-handed tactics.
Three urban management officers in Liaoyang, in northeast China's Liaoning Province, killed a man laying cement outside his home last year.
And five officers from Shanghai's urban management bureau badly beat a street vendor in 2009.
On Sunday, Shanghai issued a rule to improve the quality of urban management officers and how they carry out their duties.
Officials from the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau said only those who received training and who passed an examination would be allowed to work as an urban management officer.
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