"Chengguan" is the rather more succinct Chinese name for what translates as the "City Urban Administrative and Law Enforcement Bureau Officers". Their role is to ensure that local city laws are adhered to. They have a very poor reputation amongst Chinese residents however, allegedly prone to heavy-handedness and over-reaction, though I've also read reports of locals ganging up to attack Chengguan officers who they thought were abusing their power.
I saw this for myself for the first time the other day. From the safety of a passing bus, I watched a noisy scene with a lady flailing about and screaming as her little food cart was ripped from her and thrown into the back of a truck. There's no doubt she was an "unlicensed vendor" and the Chenguan were therefore doing their job. However, it was hard not to feel moved by her weeping, as she saw her livelihood destroyed before her eyes. What annoys me is that there is a street nearby which, every evening, has middle-class young people selling clothes from the back of their cars. This adhoc market blocks the road, creates a terrible noise for residents and really annoys the legitimate shop owners who pay high rents and whose pavements then get parked on with "mobile shops". And yet there's no sign of the Chengguan intervening there. Maybe they prefer picking on poor, vulnerable women?
I saw this for myself for the first time the other day. From the safety of a passing bus, I watched a noisy scene with a lady flailing about and screaming as her little food cart was ripped from her and thrown into the back of a truck. There's no doubt she was an "unlicensed vendor" and the Chenguan were therefore doing their job. However, it was hard not to feel moved by her weeping, as she saw her livelihood destroyed before her eyes. What annoys me is that there is a street nearby which, every evening, has middle-class young people selling clothes from the back of their cars. This adhoc market blocks the road, creates a terrible noise for residents and really annoys the legitimate shop owners who pay high rents and whose pavements then get parked on with "mobile shops". And yet there's no sign of the Chengguan intervening there. Maybe they prefer picking on poor, vulnerable women?
