Citizen army goes on patrol for Olympics

BEIJING | A stroll through Beijing’s maze of hutong alleyways these days reveals much about the Chinese government’s obsession with security ahead of the Olympic Games and its unerring ability to rally its people around a common cause.

These quiet lanes are now the barracks of many of the capital’s 400,000 “public security volunteers,” a citizen army of neighborhood committees acting as the extra eyes and ears to Beijing’s Olympic security force, which already comprises 80,000 police officers, 100,000 counterterrorism troops and 300,000 surveillance cameras.

“If the Olympics are not safe, there is nothing else worth speaking of,” Xi Jinping, the top Chinese official in charge of Olympic preparations, was quoted by the official Xinhua news agency as saying earlier this week.

The mobilization of the neighborhood committees for the Olympics harks back to Chairman Mao Zedong’s concept of “people’s warfare,” said Willy Lam, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation and a veteran China commentator.

“The committees were quasi-spy agencies until the late 1980s, usually made up of old ladies and retirees who would report on irregular activities of residents - such as those who had lots of foreign or Taiwanese friends. Of course, times have changed,” said Mr. Lam.

Nowadays, sinister it is not. But the government wants every angle covered.

On Arrow Hutong, just inside the second ring road, four elderly women sit on tiny wooden stools, fan themselves and gossip. Two wear official red-and-white polo shirts, sponsored by the local Yanjing beer, that have been given to every Olympic security volunteer.

The other two are identified by Cultural Revolution-era red armbands even though officials said last year that they wanted to scrap them to “move with the times.” The new polo shirts are too hot, the two women complain.

“There is nothing for us to do. There is no crime here and hardly any people walking around,” said a woman who gave only her family name, Zhu. “But we want to do our bit to help China host a great Olympics.”

Her most pressing task, she said, is to ensure a clean environment. “We should also tell men walking around topless to put a shirt on,” she said. Minutes later, a couple of bare bellies wobbled past without reproach.

“Our job is to advocate Olympic knowledge and virtues, show people how to behave politely and to ensure harmony in the neighborhood,” 42-year-old Luo Tongzhu said.

However, the role is not without political connotations. Some volunteers said those people who were not formerly trusted members of the neighborhood committees were interviewed about their political beliefs and backgrounds when they applied for the Olympic program.

In the historic, but now mostly demolished, neighborhood of Qianmen, a stone’s throw from Tiananmen Square, another woman who gave only her surname, Liu, performs a crucial act of censorship for her country’s leaders.

“The other day I had to scrub out a slogan on a wall which said ‘Falun Gong is good’ and I have ripped a couple of Falun Gong leaflets off doors of empty houses,” she said.

No one is likely to read them. Most of the residents have been evicted and the area now lies in ruins. But the slogan’s proximity to China’s most iconic protest venue, where members of the Falun Gong spiritual sect have famously protested, undoubtedly would fray the nerves of the authorities.

Story Continues →