Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
Tough urban street patrols spruce up image with expat faces
By Ni Tao |
July 23, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
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MAKE a list of the most-maligned occupations in China, and chengguan will probably top the list.
Since the primary job of chengguan, or urban management officials, is to keep unlicensed vendors off the street, confrontation is inevitable.
Some chengguan officials are prone to violence in carrying out their duties, and that quality has resulted in a number of egregious cases that sparked a public furor.
For instance, a few chengguan members beat to death a bystander who filmed the melee between them and villagers in Jingmen, Hubei Province, in 2008; a traffic policeman was roughed up by furious chengguan squads for trying to halt a demolition project they were overseeing in Zhumadian, Henan Province, last year.
Chengguan have been perceived as a law unto themselves by some people disgusted with their frequent use of brute force. However, they are now fighting back, not with fists or words, but PR campaigns to improve their reputation, if not entirely erase the stigma.
Three foreign students studying in Hefei, provincial capital of Anhui, recently volunteered to work as part-time chengguan to experience their work.
The trio come from the Central African Republic, Afghanistan and South Africa. Donning chengguan uniforms and patrolling their beats, they became an immediate sensation online.
Wherever they went, they drew crowds of curious onlookers.
Their politeness toward those ticketed and fined has garnered generally positive feedback. And vendors mostly cooperated and moved their stands.
Publicity stunt?
Skepticism ensued as well, with some criticizing the recruitment of foreign chengguan as a publicity stunt. Officials in Hefei denied it was a show.
Whether it was a publicity stunt or not, it worked, in the words of a local official, in alleviating public misunderstanding about chengguan's work.
Authorities in Hefei will invite more members of the public to participate in the initiative, and hopefully this will increase their empathy toward chengguan for what they do, the unnamed official told Xinhua news agency.
It's a smart move to have foreigners lead by example. As animosity runs deep between some chengguan and vendors, it sometimes takes a few foreign faces to preempt tensions and intransigence.
But as Beijing Evening News opined last Thursday, when the novelty factor is gone, when uniformed foreign chengguan are no longer a rare sight, will vendors still be docile and obedient?
In addition, urban management is a serious job, thus cannot be delegated to foreigners unfamiliar with Chinese laws and customs, the paper said. Authorities in Hefei said they didn't delegate law enforcement power to the foreigners, who were just volunteers.
In spite of the skepticism, Hefei's initiative marks another of chengguan's increasingly audacious efforts to redeem themselves. Earlier this year, it was reported that in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, 12 chengguan members have master's degrees - a sheer waste of talent in the public's eyes. But authorities seem to be of the view that employing highly educated individuals might change chengguan's thuggish image.
And late last year, a young chengguan official published a book titled "The Chengguan Cometh!" that went on to become a bestseller. In vivid detail, the author wrote of the daily routine of chengguan's work in an attempt to appeal for public understanding.
He recalled an embarrassing occurrence in which before he could approach and fraternize with an unlicensed vendor, the latter hurried off in a panic.
This is reminiscent of the alertness of snack vendors scattered around my college campus, who would startle at a first shout of "chengguan is coming" and flee, leaving behind a mess.
Such high-stakes drama happens daily on Chinese streets, and is an indicator of the deep-seated mistrust between chengguan and vendors.
Hefei's program helps to reduce some prejudice the public has long nursed against chengguan.
But it would be even better if there had been role exchanges between chengguan and vendors. By putting themselves in the shoes of small-time traders, officials can viscerally empathize with their menial livelihoods and learn to respect the right of survival and dignity of the underprivileged.
Since the primary job of chengguan, or urban management officials, is to keep unlicensed vendors off the street, confrontation is inevitable.
Some chengguan officials are prone to violence in carrying out their duties, and that quality has resulted in a number of egregious cases that sparked a public furor.
For instance, a few chengguan members beat to death a bystander who filmed the melee between them and villagers in Jingmen, Hubei Province, in 2008; a traffic policeman was roughed up by furious chengguan squads for trying to halt a demolition project they were overseeing in Zhumadian, Henan Province, last year.
Chengguan have been perceived as a law unto themselves by some people disgusted with their frequent use of brute force. However, they are now fighting back, not with fists or words, but PR campaigns to improve their reputation, if not entirely erase the stigma.
Three foreign students studying in Hefei, provincial capital of Anhui, recently volunteered to work as part-time chengguan to experience their work.
The trio come from the Central African Republic, Afghanistan and South Africa. Donning chengguan uniforms and patrolling their beats, they became an immediate sensation online.
Wherever they went, they drew crowds of curious onlookers.
Their politeness toward those ticketed and fined has garnered generally positive feedback. And vendors mostly cooperated and moved their stands.
Publicity stunt?
Skepticism ensued as well, with some criticizing the recruitment of foreign chengguan as a publicity stunt. Officials in Hefei denied it was a show.
Whether it was a publicity stunt or not, it worked, in the words of a local official, in alleviating public misunderstanding about chengguan's work.
Authorities in Hefei will invite more members of the public to participate in the initiative, and hopefully this will increase their empathy toward chengguan for what they do, the unnamed official told Xinhua news agency.
It's a smart move to have foreigners lead by example. As animosity runs deep between some chengguan and vendors, it sometimes takes a few foreign faces to preempt tensions and intransigence.
But as Beijing Evening News opined last Thursday, when the novelty factor is gone, when uniformed foreign chengguan are no longer a rare sight, will vendors still be docile and obedient?
In addition, urban management is a serious job, thus cannot be delegated to foreigners unfamiliar with Chinese laws and customs, the paper said. Authorities in Hefei said they didn't delegate law enforcement power to the foreigners, who were just volunteers.
In spite of the skepticism, Hefei's initiative marks another of chengguan's increasingly audacious efforts to redeem themselves. Earlier this year, it was reported that in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, 12 chengguan members have master's degrees - a sheer waste of talent in the public's eyes. But authorities seem to be of the view that employing highly educated individuals might change chengguan's thuggish image.
And late last year, a young chengguan official published a book titled "The Chengguan Cometh!" that went on to become a bestseller. In vivid detail, the author wrote of the daily routine of chengguan's work in an attempt to appeal for public understanding.
He recalled an embarrassing occurrence in which before he could approach and fraternize with an unlicensed vendor, the latter hurried off in a panic.
This is reminiscent of the alertness of snack vendors scattered around my college campus, who would startle at a first shout of "chengguan is coming" and flee, leaving behind a mess.
Such high-stakes drama happens daily on Chinese streets, and is an indicator of the deep-seated mistrust between chengguan and vendors.
Hefei's program helps to reduce some prejudice the public has long nursed against chengguan.
But it would be even better if there had been role exchanges between chengguan and vendors. By putting themselves in the shoes of small-time traders, officials can viscerally empathize with their menial livelihoods and learn to respect the right of survival and dignity of the underprivileged.
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