Shenzhen Chicken Parade

[johnd]

Last week Shenzhen Police had a gitmo-esk parade on the street, reminiscent of some middle ages lynching. Something designed to satisfy the baying crowds, and demonstrate that they are actually doing something. Now this news is winging its way around the world to sully to the name of Shenzhen and China.

From the Guardian:

As part of a two-month crackdown on vice in the booming city of Shenzhen, public security officers handcuffed about 100 women and some of their male customers, dressed them in bright yellow prison tunics and hauled them through the streets.

From the New York Times

the scene was like a chilling blast from a past that is 30 years distant: social outcasts and supposed criminals paraded in front of a jeering crowd

But what is the point of this? The police probably know where these "special services" businesses are, and frequent them. I have never been accosted on the street Dalian style, but in our old apartment we would receive explicit flyers a few times a week (featuring among other things, reclining ladies with vegetables!). In the end my wife phoned the Futian Police and they basically said that they don't give a damn, and don't have time. The phone number is right on the flyer - could a policeman get an easier case? Write it up, bump up the solved crimes stats, job done.

The real truth is that this business is tolerated by the police. I doubt they'll do anything in the crackdown to follow up on this PR coup. They've killed some chickens to warn the monkeys, so job done.

[Quest]

They tolerated them? they operated them.

[pandaxiongmao]

If it is anything like Kunming, these places are located right across the street from police stations. So not only do they probably use the services, they probably own those businesses...

[wushijiao]

I think the public backlash against the police's behavior is a sign of progress. No longer can the authorities humiliate people like in the days of the Cultural Revolution.

Also, what would happen if the government, across the country, actually managed to shut down the sex industry (assuming they could)? There would probably be millions of unemployed people, mainly from the countryside. I also wonder: what percent of the money prostitutes make in China is sent back to their hometown (to help their parents and the such)? I have no idea, but is probably a pretty significant %. From what I've read, it seems that the economies of some villages in inner China basically consist of argiculture and remittances from young people working awful jobs in the rich cities. It would just make sense that for the young female demographic, the sex industry probably provides a lot of desperately needed money into places that are amazingly impoverished. Whether working in factory or a brothel, it seems that many of these rural women lack basic political and working rights.

If it is anything like Kunming, these places are located right across the street from police stations. So not only do they probably use the services, they probably own those businesses...

I'd bet that the government/police (who are mainly men) recieve bribes (money made by the work of women) and it probably happens everywhere.

It is impossible for me to say whether or not these women were exploited/abused (probably not), but it is sickening to see how the system just seems designed to screw over certain segments of society (ie. rural people/ women).

I normally read the news with a deep sense of detachment and a lot of sarcasm. But this just is revolting and sickening, and makes me almost too angry to think straight.

Sorry to quote a large portion of text from SCMP:

"Xu Desen , party secretary of Shenzhen's Futian district, told officials and representatives of local landlords that the government would no longer tolerate the illegal sex trade in any form. He said the government planned to spend 500 million yuan over the next two years turning vice areas into hi-tech and cultural centres.

His remarks follow a public outcry last week over the way Shenzhen police treated arrested prostitutes and men who hired them during recent anti-vice raids. The officers dressed those arrested in bright yellow and paraded them through the streets wearing masks. Their names, ages and places of origin were then read out in public.

'The public parade [of prostitutes and their clients] has proved to be very effective in improving local neighbourhood safety and the general environment. It has turned a bad thing into a good thing,' Mr Xu said.

The district party secretary praised the police actions against nightclubs and underground brothels in the district and said the crackdown would continue.

The police action attracted criticism from the public, mass media and professionals. Several well-known lawyers in Shenzhen and Shanghai publicly denounced it as 'illegal and a brazen violation of human rights'.

One source said earlier that the Ministry of Public Security had launched an internal investigation into the incident. But Futian police declined to comment yesterday.

The Futian district government asked local landlords yesterday not to rent flats or commercial premises to prostitutes or people without legitimate income.

District director Li Ping said the government wanted to turn well-known 'vice villages' such as Shanzui and Shuiwei into 'high-class residential areas for professionals, office workers and artists'.

The areas would also become home to mobile-phone design centres, he said.

Mr Li said the authorities would spend 500 million yuan in the next two years to improve the local environment, including building small parks, adding more street lights and beautifying streets.

He promised that the government would 'move' professionals and high-income people into vacant buildings. He did not elaborate on the plan.

Mr Xu told a group representing local landlords: 'There will be a transition period and the vacancy rate will increase inevitably. But the government will make up for it. We will bring professionals, hi-tech researchers and Hong Kong people to your communities.'One thing that is clear is that we won't tolerate any illegal business. We can't make dirty money.'

Two representatives of landlords from Shanzui and Shuiwei pledged to follow the government's instructions. But several landlords privately laughed off the proposal and said it was impractical.

'Professionals and white-collar [people] will never want to live in a place like Shanzui - unless the government orders them to do so. How long could we keep such high-class tenants?' one of the landlords asked.

Most of Shenzhen's vice districts - such as Shanzui, Shuiwei and Shangsha - are urbanised villages. The majority of the structures in these areas are matchbox buildings hastily put together by local farmers in the early 1990s to provide cheap accommodation for rural migrant workers and for the sort of people who prefer to keep their identities secret.

All sorts of shady businesses have prospered in the villages and many of them have become the city's de facto red-light districts."

I've read that over 90% of new appartments in urban China, which need government approval, are not designed for people with blue collar incomes. Kick out the waidiren and xiangxiaren, bring in foreigners and the rich. That's a great way to create a harmonious society.

Sorry for the rant.