Chengguan most unpopular officials due to perception of violence: CASS

Urban management officers, known as chengguan, and management staff of schools and hospitals are the top three groups of administrative authorities with the worst public image in China, according to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

Chengguan are ranked the most unpopular officials in China due to more than a dozen cases of violent law enforcement in 2013, said the report.

Village officials, police officers, management at State-owned enterprises and officials in civil affairs departments also have an image crisis, according to the Public Image Crisis Countermeasure Research Paper 2013-2014, which was released on Monday.

Corruption, dereliction of duty, sex scandals, fake personal information and violent enforcement of law are ranked the top five problems with officials.

Some 30.7 percent of respondents polled by CASS said they detest corrupt officials, while 24.8 percent voted for dereliction of duty and 17.4 percent for fake personal information such as using counterfeit diplomas.

Research from CASS also shows that 73.2 percent of respondents expect a change in the public image of officials while 51.7 percent said the image has already improved in the past year.

The report also evaluated the public image of various regions in China and came to the conclusion that Guangdong Province, Beijing and Henan Province are ranked the top three provincial-level regions whose public image is in crisis.

CASS said that the public crisis index was calculated based on the region's percentage in a total of 2,074 public crisis incidents in 2013.

Tang Jun, director of a crisis management research center at the Renmin University of China, said that the three regions have large populations with more migrant workers, which increases the difficulty of social governance.

Guangdong and Beijing are also known for their vibrant media industry, which results in high exposure of public incidents, Tang said.

Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, Shandong, Hainan and Anhui provinces are ranked No.4 to 10 on the public image crisis list.