The End of the (Mass) Line? Chinese Policing in the Era of the Contract
Author(s)
Dutton, Michael
Abstract
Police, or at the very least, the now familiar Western concept of them as law enforcement agencies, only began to arrive at the scene of the crime in China after economic reform. From this time onward, police increasingly claimed to base their operations on the law, not Party dictates. The problem was that as the Party dictatorship faded, the police sirens no longer seemed to stir the masses to action. Increasingly, it seemed as though the only thing that would open their eyes was money. Neither was this attitude confined solely to the urban populace. As the old Maoist slogan about the forward march of socialism was parodied and replaced by a new colloquial expression that spoke of the forward march of money, millions of peasants packed their bags and marched to the city in search of work and wealth. Some found it, but others lost their way. These losers, aptly named the “floating blind”, became the rabble from which emerged the urban fear of a new, mobile, and dangerous criminal class. Although this transient or mobile criminal group would remain one of the most intractable problems facing contemporary China, it was far from being the only one. Indeed, it was as though market reform had, quite literally, produced its nemesis, “criminal reform.”
