Organizer to resist chengguan order

An art and crafts exhibition organizer said that it will not heed to a deadline to remove some 300 temporary tents set up to house precious stones and paintings for sale over the next two weeks, Thursday, on the opening day of the 2012 Spring Precious Stone and Artwork Exhibition.

Local chengguan, or urban management officers in charge of the Putuo district site for the event on Jinding Road in front of Joybells Expo building, said the organizer has been asked to take the tents by Monday.

"Even though the space belongs to the building's developer, it's illegal for anyone to put up the tents for business without a permit," Liu Baoqi, director of supervision for the district's chengguan, told the Global Times Thursday.

Liu added that the organizer, Yueyi Exhibition Company, was first warned about the problem on Saturday, after chengguan discovered the problem while out on patrol. He said that it was a reasonable request, considering that the organizer has been given 10 days to comply.

Even the rainy weather looming over the grey situation Thursday was not enough to prevent vendors from seeking business, while chengguan made an appearance to keep an eye on the situation.

Wang Xubao, a spokesperson for the organizer, said that the organizer has no plans to dismantle the tents before the event closes March 10, saying that organizer "will protest if it comes to that" to prevent heavy financial losses, including more than 50,000 yuan spent on advertising, as well as the 1,300 yuan-fee received from each of the vendors.

"The developer should smooth things over," he told the Global Times Thursday. "We signed a contract with them, which says it is supposed to deal with local authorities.

But an investor relations officer in charge of the project for Joybells Exhibition Company, who asked to be named Yu, denied that the developer had any obligation to sort out the organizer's situation, but said that it had earlier asked the organizer to do as they were told.

"We are only here to provide the venue," he told the Global Times Thursday. "If chengguan asked them to remove the tents, then they should do that."

The district's chengguan supervision director Liu, meanwhile, added that officers will continue to monitor the situation, but failed to say what action chengguan would be taken, if the tents are still there come Monday.

"We prefer not to force the tents down since that could cause unnecessary public commotion," he said. "Many vendors were already overreacting when chengguan went by earlier to check things out."