|
Law
Don't call 110 - it makes a bad impressionPosted by Joel Martinsen, April 24, 2008 12:04 PM
![]() Think before calling Thinking of calling 110 to report a situation to the police? Think again. Today's Southern Weekly printed the following anecdote from "winyear," a Hangzhou resident who posted it to the paper's BBS:
Links and Sources
|
Partner Links
Jobs in China
Recent Comments
chengdude on
Blockages
Joel Marti on
Chengdu bus fire blamed on 62-year-old suicidal gambler
vivian on
Bound feet in China
Sajid on
China first police blog
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
![]() Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
Foreign journalists in China, from the Opium Wars to Mao : Paul French, author of a book on Carl Crow has written a book about the lives and exploits of foreign journalists reporting from China from the 1820s to 1949.
Earnshaw Books' Tales of Old Peking: Tales from Old Peking is available from Earnshaw Books, and like its sister, Tales from Old Shanghai is a book of fragments of information about periods, events or places in Beijing's history, collaging together pictures and text about eunuchs, concubines, the Lama Temple, Opium Wars, art, emperors, and a miscellany of other interesting topics
Henry F. Pringle's "Bridge House Survivor": Pringle was imprisoned by Japanese forces from October 1942 to August 1945, and Bridge House Survivor, available from Earnshaw Books, is his harrowing account of torture under the Japanese.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ A short interview with Muzi Mei (2004.02): Danwei interviews Muzi Mei + CCTV vs. classic movies (2006.03): A rundown of several pastiches of Chinese movies appearing online as 大史记 - "The Year That Was". Some from CCTV, others not. With links to video. + Street hawker cries of Beijing (2006.12): Yang Changhe demonstrates hawker's cries in a video shot by Muzimei.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky
or Feedburner |






Comments on Don't call 110 - it makes a bad impression
This is a good proof that central government has weak control at local level.
This is a syndrome of mixed authoritarianism and democratism. Worse that any of two. At local level, officials often interpret policies in their own funny, woefully convenient ways.
Nowadays, these things will be uncovered soon and get fixed, but will happen again for several times, until the final but superficial cure occurs.
Where's the 'democratism'?
Sorry, Lark, I don't think it demonstrates anything of the sort.
In Australia you called 000 (the '911'/'110'/'999' number in Australia) to report a theft you would be fined. I am sure similar legislation exists everywhere.
An emergency is, well, just that. Unless the thief is _in the house while you're also there_ burglary is, well, not.
I'm not sure I'd read a whole lot into this- I've called 110 in Beijing and didn't have any problem (but then perhaps it's because I was a foreigner =P). Regardless, one incident in a country as huge as China doesn't mean it's a big problem.
@Michael
At the local level, officials can have their own interpreting of things. This is inner "democracy". However, this leads to outer confusion, because one same thing can be so different. Please be aware the context I used.
@shannonr
The 000 you referred to is emergency number. 110, ATM, is not emergency number. Although some cities plan to, or already make it emergency only, it's yet uncommon to think it is emergency only. You can't simply make 110 emergency only and citizens automatically know that.
For example, if I am from Beijing, visiting Hangzhou, and want to call police for help, I would call 110, with common sense. It's difficult for me to phone 88776655 in east Hangzhou city and phone 77885566 in west Hangzhou city. Who can remember these numbers? How can I know these numbers?
And wrt. post in Southern Weekly's BBS, situation can be simple: "You call wrong number". But it can also be: "Your call make my upper level think I can't do things well", "Your call leave an impression that local public security is bad", etc.
I think the poster means latter.
@shannonr
btw, you should read the title carefully
"Don't call 110 - it makes a bad impression".
It is very subtle. Who will have such bad impression, you caller or the police upper level?