In an earlier blog I wrote about my sad observation a number of new rich Chinese – often youngsters – behave like thugs. I actually got one experience with such a BMW in Beijing, coming from another province, that thought it ruled the city. We were in a taxi and the hooligans wanted at all cost to start a fistfight. After some rough moments the taxi managed to go away and the BMW followed us, looking to attack us at the next stop. We managed to avoid an ugly fight by entering our (guarded) compound.
Well, it did not only happen to me, I quote here the full article of Shanghai Daily dated 17 July 06. Nothing really to add to that:
Thugs in BMWs as deadly as street corner choppers
Last Wednesday, a BMW sedan bumped into a cyclist in Beijing – the cyclist was beaten, raising questions about the upscale mob.
The BMW driver stopped the car, darted out, and beat the cyclist to the ground.
As if this were not enough, two men darted out of the BMW, dragged the cyclist into the car and beat him black and blue, reports said.
When the cyclist managed to crawl out of the car, the three assailants restarted the car and fled. According to Beijing Times, the license number was Beijing CG6789.
It was neither the first, nor the only time that a BMW driver angered the nation by bumping into a crowd or injuring a pedestrian.
It’s not that BMW deliberately sold its cars to hooligans.
The point is that many hooligans drive luxury cars and look for every possible chance to bully the weak.
A nation that is getting rich quickly can’t go very far if the rich does not know how to handle his or her money properly.
Being rich is not a sin. But bullying the poor and the weak is.
Unfortunately, those hooligans driving a luxury car won’t easily accept moral lessons. But this time, there’s a hope that local police will get them very soon according to their car plate number and teach them a good lesson.
End of quote.
So far for the BMW stories.
A couple of weeks ago I went to an Amcham event close to Ritan Park South Gate. Waiting at the entrance a good friend of mine arrived, all upset. He is an old-timer in China, a very respected US businessman and always diplomatic and friendly (more than me I guess). He had just been tackled by a parking attendant/security guard when he tried to park his car. The guard had simply dragged him by his tie telling my friend to move his car away. My friend, being not exactly of small size, grabbed the guy and gave him a good lecture. But he was all upset because he could not accept the extremely rude and aggressive attitude, he thought it was so contrary to the old good ways – when something like that would not happen. He had to admit China was changing.
The thousands of so-called security guards are indeed becoming a public nuisance, to say the least. Most earn about 100 USD/month, have no education, no training and eagerly take the jobs because they basically don’t have to “work” and just hang around, according to Chinese friends. Many are totally useless and a nuisance. If you need them, they run away. Or worse, they harass people. The most feared are the ones working for nightclubs and discos. Quite a number of foreigners have been badly beaten up by those, including one of our interns, a nice and friendly American who had no clue why it all happened. He promptly took the plane back to the USA, two days later. End of his internship in Beijing.
The authorities really need to regulate the profession and stop those private gangs before more serious accidents happen. Unfortunately the rumor goes some are “well connected”…