Begging – it’s big business(2)

The hometown

Most metro beggars apparently come from the same place and know each other. "About 80 percent of the metro beggars in Shanghai come from Min county, Gansu Province. Specifically from the village of Xiaozhai. Many came to Shanghai after they heard of their neighbors doing this and then usually the entire family comes," Fang Yong said.

A typical case is Yang Hongxia who was picked up by the police last month. The 26-year-old came from Min county and had a 19-month-old infant with her. She denied having been detained before though police records showed she had been taken to the police station 10 times before. She said she had only been detained twice and had come to Shanghai to beg after her neighbors back home had done this.

Many of the beggars from Min county rent homes around Shanghai South Railway Station. "They rent one apartment and many of them live there together. They don't stay on a train if they see other beggars already on that train. At the most there are only two pairs of beggars on one train at the most at a time to ensure that there is a better chance of getting money from commuters," Fang said.

Fang added that he has never seen the beggars from Min county arguing with each other and they seem to have relatively organized routes and schedules.

Min county is one of the poorest counties in China. In 2003, according to the Min county government, about 22,000 people there had an income of less than 625 yuan a year. Qi Xuefeng, the deputy head of Min county, said that there was a growing trend for people to go out begging instead of becoming migrant workers.

"Some think it is easier begging for money than finding a job and these people have persuaded many others to think the same way. People have gradually got used to begging and do not consider begging humiliating," Qi said.

Officer Fang said it was a certainty that not every beggar was poor. "I counted one beggar's takings at the end of a day. There were 300 coins - 300 yuan - and I did not count the bank notes."

Fang believes many of the subway beggars only look poor when they "work" - he has met the husbands of the women beggars.

"The women go out to beg while their husbands laze at home. These men usually don't work and kill time in Internet cafs. When I call the husbands in to the station to pick up their wives they arrive wearing neat, clean clothes just like ordinary people," Yang said.

Some of the beggars refuse and look with disdain upon the food offered by the police. "We offer buns or bread to beggars when they are detained in our station. However some refuse and order in their own food. I once saw a beggar bring in a lunch set that cost more than 20 yuan," Fang said.

When police detain beggars they are taken to the "education rooms" in the police station at metro stations. The education rooms at the People's Square metro station are large 20-meter barren cells furnished only with two benches. The police keep the beggars there till 10 pm when most metro lines shut down. "We send them to shelters if they agree to go. The shelters provide free food and clothes and tickets for them to return home. But only one in 10 beggars will go to a shelter," Fang said.

"The most we can fine a beggar is 200 yuan. We caught one pair of beggars 182 times. They kept returning because begging was profitable even after they paid the fines. Even after they paid the fines they could still make hundreds," Fang said.

Young mother of two, Ma Xiaoyan was sewing in the "education room" at the police station when she talked to the Global Times. She said she saw nothing wrong with begging.

"My parents were beggars. My grandparents were beggars. What's wrong with begging? It does not break the law," she said. Her husband does not work.

When asked why she did not look for work, Ma said that she was undereducated and few businesses would employ her. But she had no answer when asked why she didn't try for work as an ayi or cleaner.

Begging is not against Chinese law, said Xing Huanzhong, a lawyer specializing in criminal law at the Jinmao Partners Law Firm.

"Even if a beggar collects 10,000 yuan a month, the beggar cannot be punished. Chinese law protects a person's right to beg. But it is against the law to beg in some situations where social order could be threatened or there is a problem with safety like on a metro train," he said.

Suffer the children

"Many of the beggars use children as a way to get around us. We will not detain a beggar overnight if he or she is related to the child. Having children makes it easier to get money from passengers who have children themselves," Fang said, explaining that beggars often bring children and disabled people onto the trains with them.

Last year police found 41 children begging on subway lines but after checking discovered none of them were kidnap victims.

"We take photographs of the children and the beggars to confirm their identities with their hometown authorities. We also check their personal details with police records. We can order DNA tests to determine whether the beggars are related to the children if we lack sufficient information," Fang said.

If they are related there is little police can do.

"The law does not forbid beggars taking children to beg. But if the children are of school age the parents violate education laws if they are not sending them to school," said lawyer Xing. "However the penalties for this are minimal."

Officer Fang does have concerns about children getting involved. "It will certainly have a negative effect on children. They will learn from their parents and will continue begging when they grow up," he said.

A report in the Chinese Business Morning View revealed in 2005 that more than 90 percent of the children in the Hulong Elementary School in Min county had been taken out begging by family members. The school teaches children not to go begging before the summer and winter holidays begin.

Disabled people begging is another problem. The Law on Public Security Administration Punishments states that people with physical or mental disabilities cannot be punished.

Changing times

As people grow immune to the plaintive demands of beggars some find ways of changing their approaches.

Last year an apparently epileptic man who was collecting empty bottles on a train on metro Line 2 suddenly fell in front of passengers with his body shaking violently and foam spitting out of his mouth.

He recovered and reassured the concerned passengers around him, telling them about the disease. He told them he had been abandoned by his father who came from Sichuan Province. When he asked for money to buy a train ticket home many of the passengers gave him money including some who donated 20-yuan notes.

However a few weeks later he was still falling sick on the same line. One Shanghai newspaper reported that a Westerner had been seen helping the man by putting a wallet in his mouth during the seizure.

"This man was faking the disease," police officer Pan Guofu said. "We found him buying the drugs that made his mouth foam. He did this trick in front of passengers so that people would be sympathetic and give him more money."

Fang said most beggars "work" on subway Lines 1, 2, and 4. Line 1 has the largest number of passengers; Line 2 passengers are the most generous; Line 4 is a circle line and beggars do not need to get on and off the train.

"Beggars are becoming more of a problem for the police. We do not have enough manpower. We have no more than 100 men spread over the entire metro network. It is impossible to assign an officer for every train," Fang said.

"We do ask passengers to give food to beggars if they have some instead of giving them money. The beggars who just want money will walk away immediately," he said.