Fengsheng OPINION | Urban management officers armed and beat vendors: This profession owes a transformation

“Wuhan urban management beats people” video is going viral on WeChat Moments. Several media outlets interviewed the Wuchang District Urban Management Bureau, and the reply was always “subject to official notice.”

The Wuchang Branch of the Wuhan Public Security Bureau issued a situation report, announcing the “criminal detention” of three urban management officers, Jin (45 years old), Yan (39 years old), and Guo (40 years old), who were involved in beating a street vendor.

It should be said that the action of the Wuhan police can be described as swift and powerful. In the report, the police also explained the facts that the street vendors Huang (female, 44 years old) and Ren (male, 45 years old) had an argument with the urban management officers while setting up their stalls, and Huang and Ren first beat the urban management officer Jin, “causing his facial injuries.” Jin later called two urban management colleagues, who then beat the two street vendors.

The scene of urban management officers beating street vendors in the video can be described as “absolute violence.” The video shows men in urban management uniforms picking up unidentified objects from nearby stalls and repeatedly smashing them at the heads of the vendors. The Wuhan police’s swift criminal detention of the involved urban management officers certainly took into account the consideration of calming public opinion. People also look forward to the follow-up investigation by the police, such as how the vendors are injured, whether the urban management department should apologize and compensate, and so on.

It is worth noting that the beating of vendors by Wuhan urban management is not an isolated incident of urban management “causing trouble” recently. In December last year, there was a news report in Ningde, Fujian, about “an elderly person who allegedly had a dispute with urban management and was pushed down and died.” The case was recently heard in court. In the video, the scene of the urban management officer hitting the elderly person is quite terrifying, appearing to be a violent outburst.

The public is particularly sensitive to the issue of “urban management beating people.” In fact, over the past 20 years, the “conflict” between urban management and street vendors in China has always stirred public opinion. The case of street vendor Cui Yingjie stabbing an urban management officer in 2006, exactly 20 years ago, is a reminder. If you search for “street vendor stabs urban management officer,” you will also find incidents like “melon vendor stabs urban management officer” and “Xia Junfeng case,” which have been extensively reported and closely followed by the media.

Judging by the titles alone, one might think that street vendors in China are very violent. However, these cases share common controversies: before the stabbing incidents, the street vendors had almost all suffered violent “law enforcement” or unfair treatment from urban management. In the “stabbing urban management officer” cases that stirred public opinion, many people even expressed sympathy for the street vendors.

The tense relationship between “street vendors” and “urban management” reached its peak in public opinion around 2010, with the Xia Junfeng case in 2009 being a landmark event. Behind this was China’s pursuit of “city appearance and order” during its urban development. Both “civilized city” and “hygienic city” evaluations have requirements for city appearance and order. In the minds of many urban managers, “setting up stalls” is almost a symbol of backwardness and a phenomenon that needs to be cleared.

Since then, similar cases have gradually faded from the media’s attention. On the one hand, as China’s urbanization process deepened, the phenomenon of street stalls in city centers gradually decreased. On the other hand, it is also related to public opinion’s supervision of “urban management.” Many cities have imposed restrictions on the law enforcement behavior of urban management.

Last summer, I was cycling past a watermelon stall in Chengdu. Two urban management officers were standing there, persuading the vendor to move from that intersection. A man riding an electric bike passed by and shouted to the melon vendor: “Cut him, cut him.” The urban management officers and the vendor both laughed. This is a meaningful moment of urban life, which truly reflects the role of “public opinion.” Whether it’s the vendor, the urban management officers, or the passers-by, they all know the confrontational aspect between “street vendors” and “urban management.”

From 2010 to 2020, urban management gradually shed its negative image in public opinion, which to some extent reflects the significant progress made by Chinese cities. Cities have become more inclusive, the so-called “law enforcement” by urban management has become more restrained, and the plight of “street vendors” has generally improved.

However, this process has shown signs of a “reversal” in recent years. It is not difficult to notice that there are more and more people setting up stalls in cities. Amidst the economic impact of the epidemic, many places have promoted the “stall economy” and “night economy.” Taking Chengdu as an example, the catering industry is facing greater difficulties, with many restaurants not upgrading their storefronts; dine-in establishments have decreased, and the number of street stalls has increased, with many food stalls visible outside subway stations.

Perhaps this is the “lively atmosphere” that should be promoted. However, it is not difficult to understand logically that when inspections or evaluations occur, this poses new challenges for the work of urban management.

Against this backdrop, we can gain new insights when looking at the incident of Wuhan urban management beating people: the beating behavior of urban management is not only violent but also excessive, with elements of venting and “retaliation.”

At the beginning of this article, when citing the police report, I deliberately retained the ages of the three urban management officers and two vendors in parentheses; they are all around 40 years old. The police releasing ages is certainly a professional operation and has no special meaning, but we can see more information from the details: around 40 years old, whether street vendors or urban management officers, they may face great pressure in life. This is a very difficult age group in life.

Is our “city,” on which we depend for survival, any different? Entering the 21st century, Chinese cities have undergone 20 years of rapid development, but people increasingly feel that the “progress” of the past is not endless, and cities are beginning to show “fatigue.” The communities we live in are showing signs of aging in appearance, and small stalls are reappearing on the streets for a living. At this time, a more inclusive urban culture is needed.

Any developed city in the world has street vendors. Whether it’s New York, Tokyo, or Paris, we can always see people setting up stalls. While more conveniently meeting people’s needs and providing space for livelihood, how to guide out more orderly and safer “street commerce” is a problem that Chinese urban managers need to consider.

The “urban management” profession, unique to China, has reached a moment when it must examine its mission. All industries are talking about transformation and upgrading; why shouldn’t “urban management” consider its own transformation?

In the Wuhan incident, one urban management officer felt “at a disadvantage” and called two colleagues to beat the other party together, and the two responded readily – in fact, this also reflects significant problems within the urban management bureau. There seems to be a worrying “brotherhood culture” among urban management officers. Normally, when two urban management officers are invited to join in beating someone, they should stop it and report it to their superiors.

In this sense, we certainly hope that the Wuhan urban management beating incident is just an isolated event, and “urban management” and “street vendors” cannot and should not return to the past “confrontational mode.”