Fuddland
Around this time last year I volunteered for Crisis Open Christmas in London, helping out at the main homeless shelter, so it seems appropriate to mention what I’ve seen of the homelessness and begging problems here in (苏州) over the past six months.
The first thing that strikes you about the people you see begging for money and food is that you can immediately divide them into distinct groups: the old and the very young — it’s rare to see a teenaged or twenty/thirty-year old begging. The old are predominantly solitary older men [a good estimate would be over the age of fifty], wandering the streets, although I’ve noticed that they seem to stick to definite patches; the young are street children, peddling flowers, but usually with an older woman watching over them.
I imagine that, in the case of the older men, most of them have found their way to the city from the countryside in the hope of work, but for one reason or another have had to resort to begging. I’m sympathetic and will occasionally drop my small change into their cup, but often I lose patience with the aggressive begging tactics that many of them have adopted, something which they step up into another gear when they see a foreigner approaching.
Your path will be blocked by an outstretched arm, and when you tried to side-step, they will step with you and block you again. The children selling flowers will thrust their wares at you, centimetres from your face [especially if you’re a man accompanying a woman], and immediately match your stride to keep them fixed there until the fourth or fifth firm “No” finally moves them on to their next target. Those without anything to sell will use a similar technique with their collecting cup. Women with babies strapped to their backs approach cars stopped at traffic lights and tap on the windows until the cars pull away.
Whilst I was waiting for a bus recently, a man stood directly in front of me, pulled at my sleeve and pushed his bowl at me, despite me repeatedly telling him to leave me alone. No-one else at the bus stop was similarly harassed. Leaving a bar with friends one evening, another man followed us down the street for a hundred yards or so, repeatedly asking for help: I can understand that this could be desperation, although he did not appear to be of poor health or nutrition, but giving in to his persistence would only ensure that he will continue to similarly intimidate others.
Just the other day, a girl of no more than four- or five-years-old walked down the line of people queueing for the bus, offering up her cup to each of them. When she reached me, not only did she proffer her cup, but she knelt on the ground in front of me and bowed her head. Coupling this with the usual stares — now doubled in number due to the scene — from other people, it was intensely embarrassing.
I have heard people saying that many of these children have been kidnapped by organised gangs, forced — and beaten — to beg, or drugged and loaned to adults who use them to gain sympathy. It’s hard to know the extent of that sort of operation, but whether they’re the victims of kidnapping and abuse or simply [for want of a better word] living on the streets with their brothers, sisters or parents, it’s difficult to see such young children in such desperate circumstances.
I’ve searched for reputable sources on these issues but can only seem to find other weblog posts or forum entries, or an occasional news report. The most informative article I’ve found appeared on BBC News Online three years ago, after new legislation was brought in to provide better treatment for China’s estimated 130 million vagrants — this fairer policy has been criticised for causing an influx of beggars into large cities, which prompted to issue a leaflet on how to recognise a fake.
Talking with my adult students and some friends has taught me that they are less-than-sympathetic, and think almost all beggars are “faking it”, reaping respectable amounts each day and living well compared to others outside the big cities. This view is largely the result of various media reports over the years, and, again, it’s hard to know what proportion of beggars truly are in dire straits, which makes life all the harder for those genuinely desperate for food and shelter.
