Chinese beggars brought to book

[T_i_B]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article314936.ece

Find it hard telling needy beggars from the hucksters? Shanghai's new manual shows you how.

The illustrated guide, Recognizing Phonies, runs through a laundry list of popular scams, from women faking pregnancies to counterfeit monks and bogus students asking for help paying their tuition fees.

"Amid the great army of city vagrants, there is a cadre of professional beggars who prey on the sympathies of citizens," reads the manual, issued by the city's Civil Affairs Bureau. "There isn't a trick they won't try."The guide is just one of the ways in which cities in the country's booming east are struggling to cope with an influx of beggars following a 2003 decision to rescind police powers to detain them

Supporters hailed the reform as an advance for human rights, but its main effect has been to stretch social services to breaking point and stir resentment among the city's inhabitants.

[pinniped]

1. Small time compared to the exuberant amounts of $$$$ the * crime...

family has conned from US citizens.

Around here in SF they say they're stuck and need to get back to Oaktown.

[militaryWife]

2. Visited China in April

When we were on the square, we were swarmed with adults and children begging...we could barely move to get out of their way. Most had severe physical disabilities (missing limbs, etc)and they would wave them in your face (just in case you missed them I guess)....they were heartbreaking. I wanted to stop, but my children were terrified and our guide just kept walking, wouldn't look back.

No social service programs in China- that's for sure. Everyone talks about the advances of China and how they are improving. Their buidings are great, their people suffer. Sad really.