Chinese junior cops trained in thuggery
The Chinese internet has sparked a huge controversy with the online publication of a book with a very boring title: The Practice of City Administrator Law Enforcement. It’s a textbook intended to provide training and practical advice to chengguan, a type of local law enforcement personnel.
The principal task of chengguan members seems innocuous enough: They enforce permit regulations for street vending. Yet, they have acquired a reputation for brutality. The leaked book helps explain why.
A practical handbook for beating street vendors
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What most astonished netizens was section’s explanation of “specific actions to counter violent resistance to the law”: In dealing with the subject, take care to leave no blood on the face, no wounds on the body, and no people in the vicinity….The book also instructed chengguan squad members to achieve “unawareness” […] “Do not consider whether you are a match for the subject, whether you will harm the subject, or how long it will take for the resistance to subside. You must achieve a state of unawareness and become a resolute law enforcer staunchly protecting the dignity of city administrative regulations.”
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After reading the portions of the book posted online, a netizen exclaimed that it was a “secret martial arts manual”: “Beating without drawing blood requires immense internal energy!” “The Practice of City Administrator Law Enforcement: Even greater than suffering insults silently or turning the other cheek — beating without drawing blood.”
A Beijing official contacted for comment asked, “Who put it up on the net? How did internal material come to be discussed outside?” Further investigation revealed that the book is for sale through online bookstores for 21 yuan, approximately C$3.80.
h/t: Global Voices
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