Pictures

Policeman Having Shoes Polished By Woman Causes Stir Online

by on Monday, November 14, 2011 55 comments comments

A photograph of a Chinese police officer having his shoes cleaned, polished, and shined at the side of the road incites heated online discussions amongst Chinese netizens.

From NetEase:

Male police officer sitting in car sticking out his foot to let middle-aged woman polish shoe incites heated discussion

Summary: Recently, a photograph became famous on Weibo. In the photo, a police car bearing a Fujian province Nanping city license plate was stopped at the side of a Zhejiang province Quzhou city road. A foot was sticking out of the police car and a middle-aged female shoe polisher sat in front of the open door with her head down polishing the shoe. Netizens condemned this police officer for being “too pompous”, while the Nanping Public Security Bureau Weibo account stated that it is currently verifying this matter.

Comments from NetEase:

.网易黑龙江省哈尔滨市网友:

Definitely a temporary worker. I’m just waiting [for it to be declared]…

网易广东省深圳市网友:

I humbly speculate that this time it won’t be blamed on weather, subordinates, temporary workers but instead should be blamed on fake plates.

网易重庆市巴南区网友:

What’s the big deal? The police officer is offering a means of survival for the laid-off migrant worker. The laid-off migrant worker can’t thank him enough!

网易四川省网友 [hjg666666]:

First, he paid money. Second, it wasn’t forced. I don’t know what there is to talk about, [some of you] truly have nothing better to do.

网易北京市手机网友:

What’s the big deal?! This is no longer strange. There are many more things you don’t see!

stone8250 [网易河北省保定市网友]:

If he was driving his own private car and sat in his car to get his shoe polished, no one would criticize him, at most saying this person is of poor character. But since he’s driving a car, using gas, and earning a salary paid for by taxpayers sticking his lousy leg out to have a taxpayer polish his shoe while he should be working, this we have reason to complain about. Let me conclude with one statement here, may the wumao and American running dogs who make internet posts/comments for money all die without descendents. Please compare and contrast and make comments conscientiously.

网易广西南宁市手机网友 [韦东升]:

Disgusting netizens acting self-righteous here. Shameless writer making a big deal out of thing, so anyone who drives a police car can’t get his shoe polished? So public servants can’t go to the market? If they can go to the market, then why can’t they get their shoe polished? Unless he was using coercion, not paying for his shoe to be polished, as long as he is giving money and someone is willing to engage in this transaction, what fucking business it it of yours?

网易江西省网友 [良民证拿来]:

Could such a photograph be found in any other country in the entire world?

网易河南省郑州市网友:

I once went to have my shoe polished and my wife said: Don’t go showing off your wealth by letting others polish your shoes. I asked: They depend on polishing shoes to make money for a living. If you really want to help them then you go let them have work to do. What does this have to do with whether or not one has money?

网易浙江省宁波市手机网友:

After reading so many replies, you all haven’t reached the most important point so let me tell you all what it is: Black leather shoes with flowery socks, extremely tasteless!!!

Comments from Mop:

铁血1983:

Actually there’s nothing really wrong, the main thing is just that their positions in societies are too sensitive, that’s all.

放开那阿妞:

Sigh, this society has completely gone bad, not even knowing basic respect.

全截小森:

Yet another police officer is going to become famous.

solid008:

Even if the impression is bad, what’s wrong with getting his shoes polished, it isn’t as if he isn’t giving money. He’s even providing for her livelihood.

暮紫日橙:

What’s the big deal? Do pol.ice shoes not get dirty and not need polishing?

单纯的男猫:

Even getting one’s shoes polished results in being criticized. Isn’t the only thing he did wrong was acting a little self-important by not getting out of his car?

77007300:

Everyone please believe that is a fake police car!

啊无聊呀:

Whoever has money is whoever is “boss”.

安静着默声:

Don’t be too extreme, look at this from another angle. That woman’s livelihood comes from polishing shoes. Giving her an extra pair of shoes to polish today may mean her being able to eat a little better today.

What do you think?

  • Gay Azn Boi

    This is news??? If the lady wasn’t forced to do it and was paid then I don’t see a problem with this. But then we don’t know the full story so I shouldn’t comment.

    • DRaY

      Exactly…. How are people upset with this? I must admit, I prefer my Monday morning stories to be filled with half naked women or scandalous stories… C’mon Chinese ppl… get pissed off about something else.. THIS is fucking weak|!!!

      • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

        Gay #1 and Gay #2, I disagree. This is not weak, this is in fact strong. (flaccid to open-for-business, in your lingo).

        Take the Yueyue story that everyone is so outraged over, what with the children and the thinking that is required of them. That was a sensational story, but what if that’s the kind of story that required netizens to voice their shock and displeasure at society?

        Take this story now. You call it weak because it is relatively boring and sensational free. Nonetheless, some Chinese netizens have taken umbrage with certain elements of this picture. While twenty years ago Chinese people wouldn’t have dared to openly criticize an authority figure, now they do so on the internet and for more and more trivial reasons.

        In the west, talk is cheap, but here in China talk is “action” because talking promotes thinking. Whether or not this leads to “action” without the quotation marks remains to be seen, but man, this is hot sauce; this is the kind of behavior that might one day lead someone to actually speak their minds out loud in public.

        No talk, no thinking, no action, no change.

        • Gay Azn Boi

          @terrior

          I just think this story is not worthy to be on chinaSMACK. At least provide us with more background info. A picture alone doesn’t mean anything.

        • CHNinUSA

          I can’t agree with you more, terroir

        • Johnny Basic

          Perhaps. Let’s hope so!

          Even in Nazi Germany, citizens used to make jokes about Goering’s waistline and Goebbel’s lack of height, but didn’t go much further than that, and I sometimes get a sense that China’s Keystone cops and baijiu-sodden local officials are (for now) figures of derision rather than genuine outrage.

          But it’s a start, at least.

        • Ethan JRT

          I can’t see how a lot of talk about nothing is better than no talk about nothing… which, by the process you mention, might then lead to thinking about nothing, then action about nothing, then change about nothing (substantive).

  • DRaY

    “fuck yo couch, nigga!

    • GodsHammer

      “Darknesses, Darknessessss!!!”

    • Austin McCree

      I tried to highlight this comment for the original Chinese text and I couldn’t find it. What a shame.

  • Fu ZhiGao

    I think the officers drive their patrol cars home at night (there’s always one parked at night in the complex where I live). Thus, he may simply have been off duty.

    Aside from the poor taste in socks, and the suggestion of police laziness/oppression, I see nothing wrong with this picture.

    • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

      I’d agree that this picture would be rather commonplace in China. As the Chinese commenters have already said, this is just the two roles the two principles play: the migrant worker trying to make ends meet, and a person of authority/priviledge just taking what they believe they are entitled to.

      That’s why the “outrage” to the picture is so brilliant. It’s honestly saying “no” to self-serving entitlement. Also, “no” to bad fashion sense; you just know that cop is wearing fluorescent tightie-whities.

    • 老外

      You’re right. Many officers drive their cars home at night, and use it to transport their families around on their days off. I’ve personally experienced this first-hand, and got transported from one city to another.

      It wasn’t just that officer, I saw many others doing the same thing. I really don’t see the problem with it.

      I also don’t see the problem with him getting his shoes shined. He’s helping this poor worker earn money. If anything, he should be commended.

  • dim mak

    Everybody loves hatin’ on authority and the rich
    Same everywhere man

    • Marsvin

      I would say they’ve richly earned it, though not so much this guy who’s probably just a small fish.

  • guizi

    I am on the Chinese netizen’s side. I think the action of the police guy is not civilized. I think he should get out of his car and take a seat.

    In Japan, some guys do similar thing often in restaurant. They make an order to service staff bluntly in an imperative sentence. Sometimes young guys do this in front of girlfriend or some old guys do it perhaps thinking he is senior and can order like that to younger service staff. But these actions are recognized uncivilized and the young guy will lose his girlfriend and the senior guy cannot get any respect.

    The police officer pays money, but that does not mean he is greater. He and the shoe polishing woman is still equal.

    What if you go to a customer’s office who gives you a job, do you and customer sit in different manner in front of the table? Do you and customer use different language? What if your customer always give you a low chair and he sit in a high chair and look down? What if he always command you to do this or that?

    • 平凡人

      Yes, he is ill mannered. However, it is not because he is a policeman which makes him ill-mannered.

      • Ray

        Doesn’t change the fact that he is an ill-mannered policeman, which will in turn suggest the quality of the policeman they hire. Not saying that is the standard of policeman but it is obviously an accepted standard, that is why he has that job in the first place.

      • http://chinashmina.com Augis

        I agree. It’s not him being policeman that makes him ill-mannered.

        But it IS him being policeman that SHOULD make him [at least try to look] good-mannered and think what kind of impression he makes on people.
        I think that in every country and in every society people wearing uniform are taught that they represent not only themselves but also the whole organization…

        At least, I am glad that the local Security Bureau promised to look into this matter. And I hope that instead of stupid apologies or personal “punishment” to that specific officer they can come up with general directives to their officers how to behave in public.

  • http://www.facebook.com/kedafu Kedafu

    Song of the Article

    Get Rhythm
    Johnny Cash

    http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/GeoAsTpJGUU/

    time to polish my wumao

    • hooots

      “Fuck the Police?”

      Rage Against the Machine

      Best band ever?

  • 平凡人

    What would be the reaction if the car is not a police car? Personally, if he pays what others are paying, I don’t give a shit. Yes, it does show how ill-mannered the policeman is, he could have come out of his car and sit on the plastic chair. Hey, there are a lot of ill mannered people around, I bet you could catch another one which is not a patrol car.

  • lonetrey

    “After reading so many replies, you all haven’t reached the most important point so let me tell you all what it is: Black leather shoes with flowery socks, extremely tasteless!!!”

    I actually laughed at that comment and then immediately agreed in my head.

    • mr. weiner

      Those panty hose sock things would be worse.

      • 平凡人

        I really hate those..yuck!

  • andywattbulb

    I am sure she is glad to recieve some money. Not glad with her job but glad with the money. Really…who knows, maybe she asked him if he wanted to get his shoes polished. Blood stains don’t come off easy.

  • vbl

    if he was outside of the car everyone would be complaining that he is not inside paying attention to the police radio or complaining he left the car running while he’s outside… if he paid for it really who cares where he sat ?

  • typingfromwork

    People with even an ounce of authority like to feel like a boss. So this policeman cannot get it at the station because of all the other pompous gits, and has to get that feel paying someone to polish their shoes on the street.

    When I visited America I always thought the shoe shining stalls were blatent excercises in ego fullfillment, as the chairs are so high and the shoe shiner has to bend over like some indentured servant (dare I say slave? why not) for his handful of greens. Most of the shiners that I saw were also black, which kinda made the contrast even more jarring.

    But then hey, they got paid so whatever.

    • Rick in China

      The chairs are higher so the feet are higher, hence easier on the shiner’s back. Are you really that dense? People get their shoes polished to fulfill their ego? It’s a JOB, one they have chosen, is it somehow a better position to be a guy in the toilet handing someone paper towels and offering a little cologne for a chance at some cash on their little tips pan? Maybe it is *you* who feels above those people, and is projecting that onto anyone else who pays the money for the service. Get over yourself.

      • typingfromwork

        Well we don’t even have those sort of things over here in Britain, people generally polish their own shoes, or maybe give it to a servant if they are super posh- and that is usually done while the shoe is not being worn.

        And you know what? When someone is bending over your feet as if they are kneeling in front of you it does feel like a very subservient position to take. I would feel uncomfortable having that done to me, never mind doing it myself. I would say that people here would find it somewhat degrading if they saw one of those shoe shining things in a shopping centre over here. Besides, the very idea of the “shoe shine boy” being a degrading and subservient line of work came from Britain in the first place. That’s why society in general frown upon it today.

        • dilladonuts

          You both have fine points, it’s a personal opinion type of thing. I’ve had my shoe’s shined once in the states and once in china, and both times I felt something quite uneasy about the whole situation. There’s nothing really wrong with it, but I’ve never been the type that enjoys having chores done for me that I can’t do myself. But I understand, it’s just a service, and if someone is doing it voluntarily there’s nothing wrong with rewarding them for their hard work.

          As far as the police officer, he did nothing wrong, but it’s not exactly a ” good look ” for the police’s pr department.

        • MrT

          and there you have it. Britain got no economy and pays people to sit on the dole all day rather then go out a shine shoes for a living. Its that exact reason the west is going down the pan and the east economy is growing. People have to work no matter how small so it contribute to cash flow.
          What can you do in the UK now?
          China is alive, full of life, people fighting to survive.Make money.
          Britain, dead every one rolled over and give up.Smoke drugs all day on the dole,
          yay!

  • jiayi

    It would be more disturbing if she was leaning in and giving him a BJ, The Shining style or something.

    Fuck tha police.

    • hooots

      fuck tha police! hell yeah. fuck em all.

  • Jess

    I’d guess that their entire business is based on having the guy hang their shoes out from the car and cleaning them. Looking at the background of the picture, there’s maybe another woman waiting for customers? And what looks like an open door of an obscured van, where it seems that someone else is undergoing the same service.
    So, I don’t suppose that this is an actual case of an abuse of authority, or haughtiness. Just…a business exchange, where the guy happens to be a police officer.

  • donscarletti

    My friend visited Hong Kong from Australia for three weeks to do some collaboration for his PhD at HKU. The full professor in charge of the lab was from New Zealand, but my friend was horrified to find out that he had Filipena domestic servants and as your standard liberal postgrad kept whining on and on about it.

    Now, in the antipodes we do have a very strong aversion to having household servants, so I thought about it for a while as we sipped beer in some expat bar in the mid levels. My conclusions are such:
    There have been many high profile reports of Filipena servants have been underfed, raped, physically abused or habitually overworked, this NZ professor more than likely doesn’t do any of these things. This of course does not make him a hero of any sort, this is what should be expected of a human, rather than a callous monster. The key is that despite the high profile cases of abuse, these women continue to go abroad to find employment, evidently because their villages are pretty terrible. By hiring these servants and not abusing them, he has ensured that they escape whatever poverty that has pushed them into these lives, without subjecting them to greater peril. The fact that he could have cleaned his own damn apartment is irrelevant.

    Now, I support state welfare too, but in the absence of it, the price of unskilled labour tends to be very low. I think if someone is willing to do something for a price that you are willing to pay, you should hire them to do it, since they obviously want the money more than not doing that thing. Naturally that doesn’t include paying people to deliberately harm or humiliate themselves, but in most examples I support it.

  • mp

    As long as he didn’t stiff the girl a few yuan, could it be a major problem? However, before a correct opinion is possible, we must know more. There are too many unanswered questions. Did the shoe shine girl have a permit? Was the cop on break? Did he get do-nut crumbs in her hair? Do all Quzhou cops drive VWs?

    And I thought all Chinese wear white socks? Obviously a full investigation is warranted.

  • John Wayne

    The only problem I have with this is that he does not appear to be tactically ready for unseen situations. I don’t know how the “hood” is in his part of town, but those shoes will get him killed in a scuffle. Leaning back in a patrol unit with your back exposed is not too wise either. He might be helping the lady with a few RMB, but his officer safety skills are lacking.

  • SteveLaudig

    Presumably China Smack makes money by manufacturing “stirs”. This looks like a peaceful, voluntary, exchange of services for money. that’s called ‘freedom’. certainly there’s an arresting photographic point of an anonymous imperious leg stuck out of the car but forming an permanent opinion based upon an initial reaction is …. well… rather 250. how is it any different from a photo of officer [which is presumed to be male, but could be female] sitting on the little stool and having his/her shoes shined. all in all, hyperventilating over mere images is rather …. uh….. American.

    • guizi

      The difference is, if the guy sits on a chair, it is ok, but if the guy sticks out his legs out of his car, it is not a good manner.

      I agree, this news is rather boring. But anyway it got lots of Chinese attention, so chinaSMACK put it here. So those who live in China, be careful. Foreigners can easily get attention and become an news item. If you got involved in something, your photo would be put on chinaSMACK. ChinaSMACK does not care if you do good or bad. Even in a case you are a victim, you will be again victimized by chinaSMACK.

    • whichone

      I don’t think people who are upset over the service/money exchange, but that he does so while sitting in a police vehicle. If he can not leave the vehicle (on duty perhaps?) then he has no business getting his shoeshined. It is just rude, like someone doing jumping jacks next to paraplegic kid.

      Interesting that your comment – which cautions unfounded assumptions – starts with one of your own. Yes presumably leg belongs to either a man or a woman, and not…what?

    • hooots

      It speaks to the larger issue of Chinese Police not doing anything and being lazy useless fucks. I’ve seen it too many times, and Chinese people will tell you the same thing.

      The last thing they are trying to do is anything, much less ‘protect and serve.’

  • Xiongmao

    Is this really news? Or controversial? How about a story on the special food farms for government high ranking officials? You know, so they don’t have to worry about the abysmal standards of Chinese food quality.

  • Chef Rocco

    Another distorted story.

    The man isn’t a cop, he was a contract driver of the local court and was dismissed by the court due to the episode. Having sent a patient of the court to the railway station, he was waiting there and offered by the woman a shoe shining, he refused thinking there is no sufficient time, the woman persuaded him to serve him while sitting in the car.

    I don’t know why Fauna went as far as stating he is a policeman, the article on NetEase clearly mentions the car belongs to the local court, the headline is “heated discussion caused by a man who stretched his feet out of a police car to let a woman shone his shoes”.

    • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

      Pretty much everything on the Chinese internet is fake; it’s one way of controling information: by questioning the validity of everything. So then people like reporters who ought to make a living telling the truth will exaggerate or fabricate facts or exchange details to get at the “truth”, but through nefarious means. That is certain, and Fauna accepts it as truth since she expects everyone to have already adopted this principle.

      But the one thing that is more or less real is the reaction. Yes, comments can always be faked, but more often than not they are of a person speaking their mind. So that’s why this story is important: not because some guy paid 5 kuai and had a nap, but because of the state of reaction to such an incident.

      So. Looking at a thermometer isn’t terribly exciting, but when the temperature has changed from twenty years ago, when is it relevant to make it news?

      • Chef Rocco

        Ok, I have no problem accepting chinaSMACK’s principle: “garbage in, garbage out”, but I don’t see how reactions to garbage would become “important”, amusing? maybe..

      • dim mak

        Prob because policeman is much easier to say than contract driver for local court

        What foreign readers don’t get is that every fucking thread on any big Chinese forum is basically a sensational title followed by hundreds of sheep overreacting/exaggerating/self-flagellating to the ‘story’, many of which are dubious to begin with

        Shit makes good tabloid, but nothing to be taken seriously

  • jiayi

    I doubt the lazy bastard is getting out his patrol car anytime soon so I don’tsee why he feels the need to have his shoes polished. Who’s gonna fucking see ‘em anyway? The old man without a stall license? The teenage prostitute that your coworkers and honorable party officials frequent as you tackle her to the ground?

    Polish away, but you’ll never be able to wash the bloodstains from your filthy thuggish hands. Ooh burn.

    • dim mak

      Only fashionfags and females look at people’s shoes anyway

      No one else gives a shit. Shoes are made for walking. They get dirty. That’s the point. Anyone who pays to have his shoes shined is an idiot.

      • 平凡人

        Maybe he needs to attend a formal function? Does not have time and the tools to shine his show. Or maybe he does not know how to shine his shoes and he has never done so since he bought it.

      • Kong

        Would you say the same about showering, or washing clothes?

        • dilladonuts

          yes, showering is for fags. jk

  • Don

    whats the big deal? she is doing something for a living!!!

  • Dalaomei

    He should have got a foot massage and a BJ from her; better than a wife!!!

  • JAMES STANLEY

    If I was a policeman in the people’s republic I’d be getting something else polished no’m sayin’

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