Culture

On the beat with a chengguan official

By Li Jiabao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-09 08:01

Chengguan official Guo Lianhai starts his morning patrol. [Photo/China Daily]

Security in Beijing, just like in any city of the world, is earned by competent and fair policing.

But China's capital city is unlike many other metropolises in that it uses a supplementary force to ensure public safety, one that enforces urban management and is more commonly known as chengguan.

METRO followed Guo Lianhai, a senior chengguan official with the Xiaoguan branch of the Chaoyang Chengguan Group, on his beat for the day.

The day begins

Working life for Guo, 56, begins early. He wakes up at 6 am every day, hours ahead of the start of his shift at 9 am.

Guo shares an 80-square-meter flat (map point 1) with his family. Every day he accompanies his 6-year-old grandson to kindergarten before returning home for a breakfast - two eggs and some soya bean milk.

The meal finished, he puts on his uniform and sets off by bike to the office (map point 2).

9 am: shift starts

The morning meeting is presided by the branch's director, Zhang Yu.

It starts with a rundown of cases that occurred over the night shift, as reported in the five communities in the north part of Chaoyang district.

Zhang asks officials to focus on the night stalls of vendors and issue a notice to pancake sellers to inform them that there must be no sales without a license. He also notes that clearing illegal taxis at subway entrances will require cooperation with the transportation department.

Guo listens carefully and takes notes.

9:30 am to noon: on patrol

Ten of the 16 staff members are dispatched to patrol the five communities. Guo is put in charge of Huixinyuan community, a crowded residential area with 2,726 households.

Guo first heads to the community's committee building (map point 3) to learn if there were any unusual occurrences he needs to know.

Having had patrolled the community for three years, Guo is familiar with many of the residents.

During the morning patrol, Guo discovers discarded bicycles and other sundries piled under the stairwell of an emergency exit. He calls a community committee office worker surnamed Wang.

"This will be very dangerous if there is a fire," Guo says. "They might trip people when they are escaping."

They clear the rubbish and Guo asks Wang to make sure it doesn't happen again.

The work of a chengguan official ranges from sanitation and environmental protection, like littering and spitting, to industrial administration and traffic maintenance.

Noon to 2 pm: lunchtime

Free food is provided to the branch workers in the cafeteria of the Xiaoguan street office - a higher authority in charge of looking after various matters in a local neighborhood.

The lunch typically includes a meat course and two vegetable dishes, as well as a chance to make jokes among friends.

Guo usually takes a nap in his office, waking only to drink a cup of tea before the afternoon shift starts.

2 pm to 6 pm: patrol again

During the patrol, Bote Dental Clinic (map point 4) is discovered to be below the sanitation standard. Plastic bags and cigarette butts are found in front of the shop door, so Guo issues a notification of sanitation improvement to the owner.

The owner accepts the letter but says the garbage is caused by wind and is not his fault.

The administrative measures for chengguan officials are to initially hand out a notification letter before issuing a fine.

Fines can be disagreed with, either by asking the district government to reconsider or by bringing the case to district court.

Guo says he usually hands out fines totaling between 100 and 200 yuan every month, mainly to unlicensed businessmen. A few years ago, the fine quota was at least 1,500 yuan per month, but this has now been scrapped.

The job of a chengguan official has changed dramatically since being first created in late 1998.

"We now carry out enforcement in a civilized way, not like the brutal style reported in other cities," Guo says.

"However, our biggest problem is that the city does not have a specific law for chengguan. I have to consult various municipal regulations before I can give a fine."

After giving another notification letter to Yuzhiguang Beauty Shop (map point 5) for allowing cigarette butts and spit to be outside, Guo heads to commercial buildings in the area to pass out feedback forms concerning his work.

Questions on the form include: "Do you understand the work of a chengguan official?" and "What is the greatest problem in city management?"

The questionnaires are taken to the branch office as part of an annual review and the basis for next year's work focus.

6 pm: shift ends

Guo leaves the office and cycles to the kindergarten to collect his grandson.

At home, he spends some quality time with his grandson and 1-year-old granddaughter, usually by watching cartoons.

"The stress goes away when I am with my grandchildren," Guo says.

Guo adds that he is often frustrated when seeing the media only cover negative news about chengguan.

"The 3,000 yuan salary is perhaps too little for the hard work required," he says.

That doesn't stop new recruits entering the program though - the youngest chengguan official in Guo's office is Huang Fashou, in his 20s.

"I don't think many people taking the chengguan test really want to be officials," he says. "But the force is receiving more and more graduates."

Huang, who spent three years as a village officer in Daxing district after graduating from the China University of Political Science and Law, says he can guess the reason why.

"The poor employment situation pushes many young people into joining," he says.

5 pm to 9 pm: night shift

Like all chengguan officials, Guo and Huang are required to undertake one night shift after completing a week of day shifts.

A typical night shift means a constant patrol throughout the community.

It can be a smooth time with nothing unusual, or filled with reports of illegal taxis and noisy construction.

One thing is certain though, the shift is equally exhausting for the youngest and the oldest member of the team.