Elementary Students Recruited To Be ‘Chengguan Youth’

chengguan youth

From Mop:

I signed up for Chengguan Youth Special Forces

Chengguan, literally one who manages the city. But you probably haven’t heard of ChengguanYouth. Sunday, I was one of them.

Morning, I punctually reported to school. After a while, 6 chengguan uncles came from the bureau. First, the uncles explained to us the damages street vendors inflict upon the city’s image, such as traffic congestion, unsanitary foods, and poor-quality products.

Afterward, a chengguan uncle gave us military training. First, he showed us the correct standing and at ease positions. Because we’ve practiced in school, we did pretty well. But we spent  a lot of time on walking in synchronization. Uncle taught us the basic postures, but when we started practicing, everyone was like robots, moving very stiffly. Uncle mimicked the way we had walked, and we laughed.

With training finished, our class of 17 was divided into 2 groups, one went along Yanjiang Street to work as chengguan, the other went to People’s Park. Chengguan Uncle brought us to an entertainment area in People’s Park. There were many street vendors. Chengguan Uncle gave us a demonstration. He went up to a street vendor, pointed at the toys that were on sale, and said to the owner, ‘This is a public area, selling your products here will influence those that come to exercise. Hurry, take everything away, don’t sell here!’ After hearing Chengguan Uncle, the vendor immediately gathered his things and discreetly went away. Seeing Chengguan Uncle’s excellent tactics, some vendors quietly left without us approaching. I, too, deeply respect this Chengguan Uncle.

One enemy had been eliminated, we made for the next one. Just then, Chengguan Uncle saw an old grandmother resting her foot on a small tree, and told us, the task of stopping the old lady is yours. We accepted the duty, and approached the target. But as we got to the old grandmother, we hesitated. I was in a dilemma, should I do this or not? A question appeared in my mind: why not? Because I was frightened? No, I was a man! I gathered my courage, walked up, and said to the old lady: ‘Grandmother, if you rest your feet on the tree, it won’t grow.’ The old lady was understanding, and lowered her foot.

Then, we stopped a few aunties from washing clothes in the river. An entire morning passed this way, but it was a very happy and productive morning.

We were featured in the newspaper. I am very honored to have been a Chengguan Youth.

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The banner in the pictures above says: Shangyu City Youth League Chengguan School

The following are pictures of the training. The red banner says: I participate, I grow, competing to be a Youth Chengguan Soldier

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Comments from Mop:

龙宝宝的宝宝【猥·见习成员】:

Harmoniousness must start with the children…..

爆过春哥:

To peacefully liberate Taiwan, the central Party decided to expand its strategic weapon–chengguan!!!!!! Lou zhu you know too much, tomorrow night you will be harmonized by the chengguan and the Chengguan Youth~~~wakakakaka

darkhaseo:

The military force of our country has improved a level once again.

特工Z【弱盟●弱盟成员快乐多】:

The chengguan have learned how to brainwash as well.

110669068:

This society is too crazy/ridiculous, there’s nothing much for me to say.

狂草泥马诅咒人【幸福窝dё傻猫猫】

Actually the chengguan have a pretty tough job. I won’t say any more, don’t want to be flamed.

x871025:

Tragedy~~~~~~~~~~

qinerbaobei1126:

It’s over! Our next generation!

jumbo919:

It’s really a TMD para-military.

三八的蜗牛【幸福窝dё傻猫猫】:

Black society [gangster] youth!

毛利杨五郎:

Reminds me of the Hitler Youth.

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  1. 沙发!!!!!! finally :>

  2. At first glance this is disturbing, but making kids do stupid shit is sadly universal. I would rather my kid be a chengguan than a one of those freaky beauty pageant kids. Probably more of a future in being a chengguan. Plus less chance of molestation.

  3. Will they also beat people to death?

    Haha

  4. *shudder*

    ………………………………..

  5. “One enemy had been eliminated, we made for the next one. Just then, Chengguan Uncle saw an old grandmother resting her foot on a small tree, and told us, the task of stopping the old lady is yours. We accepted the duty, and approached the target. But as we got to the old grandmother, we hesitated. I was in a dilemma, should I do this or not? A question appeared in my mind: why not? Because I was frightened? No, I was a man! I gathered my courage, walked up, and said to the old lady: ‘Grandmother, if you rest your feet on the tree, it won’t grow.’ The old lady was understanding, and lowered her foot.”

    Really???? Are these kids being taught that a street vendor is the enemy? Hopefully something was lost in the translation.

    Really???? Are these kids being taught that a tree won’t grow because an elderly woman has rested her feet on it.

    These poor excuses to keep order are keeping China’s youth in the same place as the previous generations.

    It’s great that these kids are contributing to society and their community however this theory is lost in the principles of practice.

  6. first thing they need to solve is stop referring to their city’s citizens as “the enemy.” wtf

  7. Graduating from Chenguan Youth school probably gives much better job opportunities than a mid-level university. Rather than wading through job fairs with 200,000 of your closest friends you will be given a secure career right out of school.

    And, come on, those uniforms are pretty kick ass.

  8. This is good, the only thing worth noting is that they should 为人民服务 and not abuse their power. This subculture is at least better than being a part of the various retarded consumerism created pop cultures.

    • Are you kidding me? This is what happens when you’re one of five countries along with Burma, Cuba, the DPRK and Laos to ban the Boy Scouts. Why should kids be learning outdoor skills, having fun and helping people like a pack of counter-revolutionaries when they could be harassing old women.

  9. Chinese version of the scouting? Seems harmless enough.

    Not much different than ROTC in the USA.

    • Except – as always – scouting, ROTC, etc are not virtually compulsory in the way that the youth pioneers and these ridiculous Young Chengguan are.

      • Also, if I remember things correctly, the ROTC is for college and the JROTC even is only for high school and such. The boy scouts is more of an after-school program than what looks to be a lifestyle portrayed above.

        • Having been though both programs, actually youth pioneers is pretty much an after school program. just you have to clean the classroom, and design the rear chalkboard once in a while. (at least they don’t have to jump to hoops just for some badges to pin on)

          as for compulsory part, you don’t have to join. In fact before 3rd grade it hard to join it, but after 3rd grade the pressure to join is immense, in part because all school festivals and field trips starts to be organized around pioneers rather than classes. (I.e school activities became less and less, while pioneers activities became more and more) btw, there was on guy in my classes that never joined because he doesn’t meet minimum standard on grades. (technically he should have repeated 2nd grade, but he for some reason moved on, and left further and further behind)

  10. “Reminds me of the Hitler Youth.”

    EXACTLY what I was thinking.

    • I know. I thought about it as soon as I saw the title of the story.

      • Quite agree on the hitler youth portayal. Having young children doing this sort of thing is definately not right. I think some sort of Scout type organisation would be a great idea in China, but there is a big difference between the objectives of the scouts and the Chengguan.

    • Exactly,

      With all the patriotic fervour and marching and (quite likely) mindless slogan chanting the first thing I thought of was NAZI YOUTH or HITLER YOUTH.

      Can’t help but wonder what the CCP’s neighbours think.

      ‘China’s Peaceful Rise’ has the same ring as WWII Japan’s ‘East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere’.

      WWIII here we come: Get ready for Hell on earth Nippon. Vietnam, you had it easy in ’78. India, we’re not done with you yet. And Korea… Has always been a part of China.

    • They shit on poor people and the disabled so they are getting there. Only need to teach them racism.

  11. The way the kid writes ”

    No, I was a man! I gathered my courage, walked up, and said to the old lady: ‘Grandmother, if you rest your feet on the tree, it won’t grow.’”

    just troubles me. But anyways, reading this. At least we know all chengguans were all once humans after all.

    • I’m not sure, but doesn’t this seem to be written by an adult who went along with the kids? One of those older guys wearing the young pioneers scarf maybe? Just wondering…

  12. Not bad. At least those spoiled, useless kids today will learn how to MAIM, BURN, KILL!!!!11

    unfriendly skills for an unfriendly society.

  13. What part of this is like the Boy Scouts?

    Do they earn badges by learning how to make a fire in the wilderness? Or learn how to knit? Or build wooden race cars?

    This is far from the Boy Scouts, and is more like the “youth brigades” of earlier days. Many many years ago my own mother in law and her family lived in fear because one of her sisters had become brain washed by the communists. They were afraid of her sister turning them in for not being Mao worshipers.

    Unfortunately there is a huge problem with Gov’t. officials corruption in China. Everyone knows that. But I think that this is not the way to do it. Giving people a reason to care about being good and honest, loving and kind is the only way that you can get rid of the corruption. But you wont get that in a society that rejects the source of love. How can you value someone when you believe that they are insignificant? This is where the Chinese can learn from the “west” and Americans about God. Specifically the Judeo-Christian one which values people.

    Basically the problem with morality in a communist society is that there is no final authority and morality can change with whoever is in power. Beware.

    • LOL! I agree. The final solution to the Christian Jedidom is SinoSith Empire!

      • “The SinoSith Empire”

        I’m still laughing…! Bloody brilliant mate.

      • Careful with your labels. The Chinese might be inclined to carry out such goading to the

        letter.

        Sino-Sith term bandied about in this irresponsible manner would in time become something

        the Christian world would end up having have to deal with if it irks the Chinese enough.

        Meanwhile the Chinese would be Sino-Jedi to it’s ideological allies and other neutral

        nations who don’t go around labeling with such nonsense.

        In either case the premise of Star Wars and Jedi (which has nothing to do with

        Christianity) is strongly based on Taoism to the point of plagiarism as much as D&D’s

        Dragonlance directly plagiarised South East Asia’s Indo-Malayan cultures and even words.

        To begin with the English were not even Christians and were Celts and Gauls who studied the Holy MABinogi, Prose Edda (religious text) and Ogham of Druidism instead of the Bible or Latin alphabet at least until the Romans conquered and converted them.

        Incidentally, the ruling Windsor House in England is less English than other English nobility today because of the failure of House Hannover to produce a male heir in the 1700s. The last true blood female English heiress was paired with a German Monarch during this time. During World War 1, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha finally was renamed Windsor for fear the English would overthrow them for being German.

        So do not go around casting aspersions on Chinese society or colonising the rest of the world and pushing Christianity when affairs at home remain questionable. Find your own roots first instead of going ‘Star Wars’ on other cultures.

        Do not even call them Chengguan Youth. They are here to make China better if they can.

    • Thank you for sharing the moral superiority of “America’s” God. I’ve seen some wonderful photos taken at Abu Ghraib that demonstrate America’s Judeo-Christian values. That’s not how I would teach people to be honest, loving and kind. If you’re looking for “honest, loving and kind”, then visit Thailand. Most Thai people are devout Buddhists and are the nicest people I’ve ever met.

      • It is strange to find me defending Christianity but I feel that you are over generalizing. There are a lot of good Christians too just like there are a lot of Muslims, and a lot of Buddhists. This is apart from any feelings I have regarding their beliefs though (organized religion is mostly stupid as a political and philosophical institution).

    • Yeah I’m not so sure the way to alleviate corruption is to talk about God. Pretty sure there are plenty of corrupt evangelicals.

    • What China lacks is not Judeo-Christian ethics, but checks and balances, independent judiciary, and a free media. Just because developed western countries have Judeo-Christian values and less corruption does not mean they causally linked.

  14. China is getting more and more badass. Scary. they start by teaching the kids wrong things

  15. Oh yeah….the engine of chaos for the SinoSith empire!

  16. Yes Aaron !! The truth is that those God fearing Judeo-Christians have been killing eachother and others in terrible in declared and undeclared wars for generations. Where have you been brother?

    • um, i think the main point of christianity is that everyone is bad or has sinned, not that the people who believe in jesus are good, morally superior or dont.
      pointing to corrupt christians and their fallacies is only proving their point, isnt it?

      and how many have been killed in the name of godlessness?

  17. Wow, Hitler youth anyone?

  18. And the Chinese who see this think it’s great.
    There is no hope.

  19. That’s right. Give children a taste of corrupt power when their young.

    This can’t be good for the future everyday lives of the people.

    I can only hope that this is a one time thing, not a lasting program…

  20. Street vendors and tired old women beware!

  21. I love the fried egg wrap for breakfast, sold by the illegal vendor, but do notice when she’s not there the giant grease stain, from those yummy fried eggs, that people probably slip and bust their ass on all the time, especially after it rains.

  22. Come on kids – tuck your shirts in.

  23. I see the point don’t get me wrong of the Chengguan. They have a point that these people aren’t paying taxes and are generally polluting the streets with their leftover garbage, grease, and 20 people huddling along a busy section of road.

    But training up a group of people from the age of 10 to start harassing people is just plain sick. Teaching children to believe that society is theirs to fuck with is wrong. Scouting at least tries to build respect through acts of charity and goodwill and that authority is not gained from intimidation.

    Paramilitary organizations aren’t much differenct in my experience though I will admit. JROTC and ROTC are certainly a place of black and white ideals with a common code of big man mentality. Though at least its tempered with the ideals of service.

  24. If the govt is going to practice regulations, do it on a consistent basis, rather then for ” show “. How often do we see laws put in place that are only enforced for 3-4 weeks until the general lazy practices kick in and they forget about it.

  25. i like how the related posts are “Street Peddler Beaten & Paralyzed By Shanghai Chengguan” and “Kunming Protest After Chengguan Beats Man to Death”…

    haha i second the ‘hitler youth’ opinion. good job china…*sarcasm*

  26. Two things I noticed………

    1. Why aren’t the kids shirts tucked in? Its an “academy” and they look sloppy.

    2. Why is this such a bad thing? To tell ignorant people they can’t sell their goods on the streets illegally, and stop women from washing their clothes in public fountains, aren’t these the things that us foreigners always laugh about (and complain about)?? Cheng guan’s get a bad rap. I think many of them (esp in Shanghai) are not that bad

  27. Are they hiring some laowai chenguan??

  28. YEAHHHHHH, READ MY COMMENT!!!!
    ok, first: i think i will be easy less expensive to corrupt these young bastards as they don not yet know what money is really about, if you need some special favor just buy them a computer game or whatever and you ll have your favor

  29. YEAHHHHHH READ IT AGAIN PLEASE
    ok, second i think it somehow is a good think, they are finally give kids something to do other than STUDYING STUDYING STUDYING. I just wonder what will happen when these kids come across the also XINJIANG UIGUR KIDS. IT WILL BE THE END. i am damn funny

    • Oh noes!

      Do you know what the fuck you are wishing for, man?!

      XINJIANG UIGUR KIDS VS. CHENGGUAN YOUTH

      HEAVEN VS. HELL – FINAL DESTINATION

      This would be the most epic fight EVER!

      And the winner has to fight the most brutal final boss in China:

      The Tibetan Youth

      Chinese Deathmatch anyone?

  30. Chance that all of those pics are faked and this whole thing is a troll post? 80%. Waiting to see the followup on this.

  31. Totally off topic, but I really would like to see a boxing match between kai and pusan playa, rather than sue words of insult and “holier than thou” tactics in these boards, it could be promoted as a china vs korea fight event of chinasmack. this is something that i would gladly volunteer my time in organizing.

    [Note from Fauna: How do you know they represent China and Korea?]

    • I will fight if I must

      The fight must take place within the Republic of Korea, in compliance with Korean law, with a doctor on standby within a proper boxing venue and judged by a professional referee under international Muay Thai or Kickboxing rules. My opponent must not exceed 190cm or 100kg and I must receive at least 20% of the event’s gross revenue, at all times the commentators and announcers must refer to me as the “Manny Pacquiao of the Internet”

  32. 1) People are too jerky to say something based on an anonymous Internet article written in mockery. The original Chinese article sounds like a parody made by an adult (especially the ‘enemy’ part). However the reason for people’s jerky reactions to this ‘Youth Chengguan’ incident is understandable: chengguan has such a bad reputation and the article is written in a way so pissy.

    2) Then I searched online and found the “Youth Chengguan” is only a part of extracurricular activities in Huawei Wenlan elementary school in Shangyu city. The program is called “Classrooms without walls”:

    http://www.hwwl.net/list.aspx?cid=305
    (their website in Chinese)

    What did they do in the program? Besides the ‘Chengguan Youth’, they also invited artists and writers to give lectures, visited various places in the city, interviewed city officials and law makers, hiked in spring and had some mutual activities with students’ parents. I think all these are quite normal and actually good for kids.

    3) Now back to the “Youth Chengguan”. How do I think about it? Whether we should let children participate in law enforcement directly (aka going into the street and taking part of law enforcers’ job) is debatable. I think kids shouldn’t be forced to see the dark side of the society when they are still so young, but on the other side, learning about laws and how laws are enforced is definitely necessary as a part of the education. They will know how to use the law to protect themselves when they grow up.

    On the other hand, I doubt how practical the “Chengguan Youth” activity could really be. The real situation in city management is too complex even for the chengguan the law enforcer, let alone for innocent kids. That’s probably why all photos were from the first operation two years ago and they rarely had similar activities recently (as reported).

    • so it like how pioneers directed traffic in the 90′s. (remember the yellow cap program?) I was a part of it, the point is nobody listened. So I just pretty much stand at the cross walk and yell at the most outrageous offenders (like people flip over railing when a crosswalk next to it, even that I give up after a while).

  33. this reminds me of something from the cultural revolution…

    the children are not wearing red, and not waving the redbook,

    but they act just the same…

    a little red guard does not tell us laorenjia what to do!!

    go to the countryside,

    plant some food!

    I do not like these SS youth!

  34. =]These children have a bright road ahead of them.

  35. This is thugs in training…

  36. I’m reminded of Hitler’s Youth. Next they will inform on their parent’s. CHINA BEWARE!!!

  37. cool cute awesome

  38. wht the heck got to do with Hiltler’s youth!!! moron

  39. Dude, Christianity is in China, and exploding fast.

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