The more of China you see, the more you understand to not take things at face value. But not knowing a thing about the lead-up to this brawl in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province on Monday — maybe the villagers were being really annoying, I dunno — we wonder: how big is the budget for chengguan at this place? I see several dozen of them on the scene, fighting about, oh, six to eight people. (We’re not completely sure what’s up with the uniformed men in white hard-hats. The Youku description says there were 50 to 60 chengguan.) One villager gets stomped while he’s already down.
Lots of poor fighting form. Look at the kick on this guy:
What is that, bro? And like so, the chengguan’s bad week continues.
Toward the end, there’s a bit of chasing, and is it just me or does it seem like chengguan are splitting themselves in twain and proliferating in number? One bystander with a stroller scurries out of the way.
“Chengguan attacking people,” says a woman’s voice. The villager’s rally cry.
These people need guns.
I’m late to this – just following links starting with an article on The Diplomat – but the question about chengguan budget reminded me that I had conducted an actual scientific survey on how many there are in Beijing: http://soimgoingtochina.blogspot.com/2007/07/count-green-guys.html
Needless to say I knew none of their background or violent reputation when I wrote this six years ago.