By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .
Sign up with Google
Sign up with Facebook
Q: Street vendors disappearing and reappearing en masse?
This is the second or third time I've noticed this over the last few months, but most mornings, the street outside my building is overloaded with cart vendors selling various snacks. Then one day, it will be completely empty and stay that way for several days or weeks until...boom, they're all back again at the same time. What's happening? I've heard of crackdowns on these people but have never seen one happen in person. Is there some sort of special newsletter that all of these people get telling them to "stay away" for an allotted period of time?
10 years 47 weeks ago in Health & Safety - Beijing
Yes it's called the 'Wu SHu Bu SHu' It's a special technique that you must learn to master the right time to sell and the right time to leave. It takes time but it's special training that you should master before you venture off into this profession!
You can tell when Siegfried is in town. He makes them disappear.
Sometimes they get notice, sometimes they don't. In my experience as a fan of street food, occasionally the police will run them all out and they return some time later. Or they get the notice. Some schools run them out because the schools (leaders) own the restaurants and they don't want to compete with street food vendors.
the police that is responsible for the illegal street vendors is around. when he turns his back they return. it is a silly act
I ride up and down a hill near my apartment every day, (frequently more than once) and that is usually frequented by many street vendors mainly selling fresh fruit. They too occasionally vanish for a week or two, often around Spring Festival time. I was once 'lucky' enough to witness how, basically I was riding past when about 50 police descended from the opposite ends of the street, rounded up all the vendors and issued papers which I assumed were tickets. I think there must be some stipulated penalty that either increases or enforces a punishment if they return within that time frame.
Why do they do this? (apart from the chance for hongbao), my wife says it's to enforce the payment of taxes, street vendors don't pay any tax, while shop owners have to.
It's because of the Chengguan. They're like police officers, but without the "protect and serve" part of the duty.
Same thing happens on our street a couple blocks away.
The street keeps collecting more and more street carts until the road gets blocked so much that the cars can't get through and then the traffic starts getting backed up for miles... Then the Chengguan come out of nowhere (the sewers??) and start physically beating the street cart people with wooden paddles until they pack up their cart and move. Then the only noise you hear for a few hours is the noise of car tires on the pavement rolling past until a brave cart vendor comes back and it starts all over again.
Most Chinese seem to thing that these Chengguan are the absolute worst skum of the earth, but I'd hate to be stuck in traffic for hours because of some selfish street cart vendor that's slowly roasting BBQ chicken in the middle of the street.
Sidicas is right. The chengguan are the ones responsible for cleaning the riff raff, prostitutes, street vendors and beggars off the streets. Once the street vendors start clogging up a major walkway or street, eventually the chengguan will come in, sometimes with force, to clear it out. This usually works for a few days, but eventually they will return since the chengguan get bored enforcing the rules and go back to playing games on their mobile phones.
