Hangzhou Street Peddler Flees Chengguan, Runs Over Son

Hangzhou City Management Respond to Incident Where Street Vendor’s Son Was Run Over: It Was The Vendor’s Own Fault

The Beijing News newsflash (Reporter Yang Feng and Intern Zhao Jixiang) — This afternoon, multiple netizens made microblog posts claiming that a fruit peddler in Xiaoshan District of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, saw chengguan [city/urban management] personnel engaging in enforcement [of city laws and regulations] and, in the course of fleeing by driving away, ended up running over and killing his [her/their, it is not clear] son.

Tonight around 7 o’clock, the Xiaoshan Urban Management Bureau released a statement saying that as the vendor left on his own accord, he did not notice his child was playing underneath the vehicle, which lead to the boy being run over by their cargo truck and crushed to death at the scene.

Online post: Chengguan chases after vendor causing vendor’s child to be crushed

Today, starting at five o’clock, local Hangzhou city Xiaoshan district netizens posted microblog messages claiming chengguan officers had arrived at the intersection of Jianshe Fourth Road and Shixin Road to conduct enforcement, and a fruit peddler ran over and killed his son while driving away.

Pictures uploaded to the internet show that the vendor’s car was loaded with oranges, sugar cane and other fruits. To the side of the vehicle was a woman cradling a child, bent over crying in agony. The owner of a nearby store says he saw the scene of the child’s mother holding her already dead child weeping. “Too tragic.” But as for the specifics of how the situation unfolded, he didn’t actually see it happen.

Several owners of nearby stores claimed that because the incident happened in Xiaoshan district at the center of the city, it ended up causing a huge traffic jam on North Shixin Road.

Tonight at 6:50, this reporter from The Beijing News phoned the police station in charge of the North of the city, where the officer on duty said that all of the station’s officers were still at the scene handling the incident.

An employee of the Xiaoshan emergency dispatch center indicated that at around 6pm, an ambulance had already rushed to the scene and had already brought the victim to the hospital for emergency rescue.

Statement: The vendor left the scene on his own accord and didn’t notice his child

At around 7 o’clock tonight, the city management bureau released a statement about the incident.

The statement claimed that at around 4:05pm today, while their personnel were engaged in enforcement at a fried pancake stand and fruit stand at the entrance to a Huning supermarket in the Ningan neighborhood on Jianshi North Road, they saw a truck with Henan license plate A6H68 that upon seeing the situation [of enforcement] began driving away without noticing that their little boy, who was about 4 years old, was playing under the vehicle, leading to the child being crushed and dying at the scene.

The statement also said that today’s operation was to rectify the dirty and chaotic appearance of both sides of Xiaoshan district’s main thoroughfare, improving the city’s management, and that the Xiaoshan Economic Development Zone Regulatory Commission had organized the chengguan, traffic police, local police station and the Xingda City Administration Company to collectively rectify the environment and appearance of the northern sector of the city from January 13th to January 31st.

“Immediately after the accident happened, chengguan personnel from the development zone immediately called 120 [emergency medical services] for help, and 120 arrived on the scene within 10 minutes.” The statement also claimed the northern city police station promptly handled the situation at the scene of the incident, with the development zone and City Management Bureau responsible for handling the matter. Currently the accident is under investigation.

Comments from Sina News:　

板烧鸡腿汉堡小盆友[广东东莞]

If one day the news reports “city resident beaten to death by roadside street peddler for inquiring about prices without buying”, then you will all probably be online yelling asking why the chengguan weren’t doing their job. Every time I pass places where street peddlers operate, the ground is covered in trash and an awful stench fills the air. Does this not disgust you people? Just because life is difficult doesn’t mean you can break the law!

[Note: The common sympathetic defense for street peddling is that while it is technically illegal and against city ordinances for the problems they are associated with (sanitation, congestion, etc.), these people are just trying to make a living however they can, so they should be tolerated or at least given some leeway.]

康婷精英济南李[山东济南]

When will China return a piece of clear sky [peace and tranquility, good life] to the ordinary common people. Yet another accident instigated by the chengguan. The poor ordinary common people. Having to make a living and bring their child along, so tragic.

RayH_THU[北京] (responding to above)

Don’t be shameless, what does this have to do with the chengguan?

w83349[广西南宁]

Are the chengguan devils? To make city residents so afraid of them?

用户5309259688[河南开封] (responding to above)

Which city residents are afraid of the chengguan? Only the street vendors who illegally take up space on the streets to do business are afraid of them.

给你一封情书丶2015[海南海口]

When I first saw this article, I thought there would again be a bunch of comments cursing the chengguan as usual, but what I end up seeing are all voices of reason. When city management doesn’t conduct enforcement, people then just complain that they take taxpayers’ money without doing any work. Sigh…

用户3820520954[辽宁沈阳]

Although I sympathize with the victim, it seems like the chengguan didn’t do anything wrong. Selfish behavior like vendors blocking the street when doing business must be stopped.

云与我[广东广州]

Without chengguan, this kind of thing would not happen. The chengguan must bear responsibility.

RayH_THU[北京] (responding to above)

Without a judicial body, there would be no death penalty. So do all the the people in the judicial body want to die? Retard.

夹饼加蛋不放辣[吉林长春]

[In response to a discussion thread that began with a commenter suggesting the street vendor go to America, where an old Chinese man is able to peddle a Chinese food item on a major street not far from Times Square without chengguan or police expelling or shutting him down, without having to pay any fees, and earns a considerable amount of money doing so. Multiple responses from other Sina netizens lambasted him for not knowing what he’s talking about, asking if he’s ever even been to America.]

There’s always some people, who only see the good parts of foreign countries, but only see the bad parts of our own country, and think they know everything, going around instigating and fanning arguments. I only have one thing to say to this kind of person, I bought a watch last year [a phrase that is essentially a pun on “fuck you”]

LJZ1983[福建福州]

While a thief is committing a crime, he sees a police officer come by on patrol, then flees, but in his haste, he has a traffic accident or loses his footing and falls down. Should this also be blamed on the police? It’s fine to be critical of the chengguan, but it should be rational and with cause. Don’t recklessly flame [complain/criticize] regardless of what the situation is. This only proves your own ignorance.

工行伙伴[陕西咸阳] (responding to above)

What you said here is wrong/unfair! Is a street vendor a thief? Why would he run away as soon as the chengguan came if not because he was afraid!? And you didn’t say who’s right and who’s wrong. What you wrote here simply adds insult to injury for the dead child’s parents! Those who aren’t resilient [to such comments] might just commit suicide [as a result of them], and then you would be an accessory to their death!!!

So果[四川成都]

Ridiculous, the chengguan were conducting enforcement normally, and they ran over their own child, but are now blaming others? What a joke.

天启MR[湖北神农架] (responding to above)

So according to you, Chinese people getting massacred by the Japanese is very normal, and we can’t blame anybody but ourselves. War is cruel, and if you can’t beat the enemy, does that mean you can only say you deserved it?

江东子弟无衣[江苏南京]