Beijing's Enforcers Rebrand

Summary：Beijing has raised the status of its Municipal Supervision Office, home to the Chengguan, whose name is a byword for thuggery and abuse of power.

By Song Fuli and Xiang Chuqing(宋馥李 项楚卿)

News, Page 13

Issue No. 546, Nov 28, 2011　 

Translated by Li Meng (李萌）

It’s 3p.m. at Zhongguancun in the northwest of Beijing, within few seconds of spotting a Municipal Supervision Office patrol car, the street vendors have wrapped up their goods and disappeared.

This kind of "guerrilla warfare" is common in streets and alleys across the country as law enforcement officers, known by their abbreviated name of Chenguan, try to drive unlicensed vendors out of their cities.

On November 5th, Beijing municipal government renamed the Beijing Municipal Supervision office and said it would now be governed directly by Beijing Municipal Administration Commission. This will cement the controversial office’s position at the center of local government.

"Chengguan" have been in the news constantly since municipal managers hit the streets in 1997. The name has been associated with abuses of power and excessive force.

One of the most high-profile cases concerns the murder of a Chengguan during a confrontation with Cui Yingjie, a street vendor whose cart he had confiscated.

Cui was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, but his fate stirred public sympathy and rage towards Chengguan and their abuse of power and forced Chengguan to become less aggressive in their methods of law enforcement.

Beijing’s Chengguan now have 13 areas of responsibility including the city appearance, environmental sanitation, illegal commercial operations and illegal construction.

The urgent issue now facing Chengguan is how to position the agency in the administrative system. For a long time, Chengguan's main responsibility was tackling low-level crime and applying penalties. So far, their methods have been restricted. They have needed approval from more senior organs of government such as police offices, departments of industry and commerce administration, urban construction.

Now that they have been “upgraded” to the level directly below the municipal government, the Chengguan expect to have a bigger role.

Take the issue of unlicensed vendors. Apart from kicking them off street corners, the Chengguan hope that they will be able to go further and help them with the relocation and rearrangement as well as offering preferential or free rents for businesses premises.

An in-depth research conducted in 2009 on the Chengguan showed that these law enforcement officers have long been facing extended hours, heavy workloads, low job satisfaction and social stigmatization.

Since their targets are mostly the disadvantaged, the Chengguan have always been accused of bullying and a lack of compassion.

Although it is a government agency, working as a Chengguan offers very limited promotion and transfer opportunities. The high personnel turnover is unavoidable – with four out of every six college-educated Chengguan leaving the job each year. Most of them only see the job as a stepping stone for a career in civil service.

Other than the 7,000 Beijing Chengguan officially registered in the municipality administration system, there are around 6,500 security forces working for the government agency. They are usually hired and paid by town or community-level Chengguan offices. The high turnover rate and fragmentation of the security forces also contribute to the difficulties in management.   

Excessive use of force is the most common complaint against Chengguan. However, one of their only effective ways to deal with illegal street sellers is the temporary detention of their goods. Some unlicensed vendors have even started faking injury during confrontations with Chengguan in order to create a scene. In response, officers are using surveillance cameras to record evidence.