It’s hard to believe that anyone would take advantage of those looking to help the less fortunate, but according to a recent report in the Nan Fang Daily, there is a growing number of Guangzhou residents doing just that. As some of our readers may have noticed, panhandlers at Baiyun International Airport are an all too common site these days. But as local aid workers have discovered, several of the alleged poor are in fact far from it.

Mr. Pan, a relief worker based in Huadu District, has been working with the homeless most of his life. Yet while most homeless he encounters welcome the offer of shelter, and other resources, the homeless at Baiyun Airport are different: “Generally speaking, our job is to rescue vagrants and beggars, we’re the last line of defense. But the airport is not the same, they do not want our help.” Pan says that panhandling at the airport has become such a profitable enterprise that residents are literally “dressing up” as homeless to earn money. Pan describes cases of well-dressed individuals entering the airport with a suitcase, disappearing into the washroom, and emerging in tattered clothing to panhandle for the day.

With upwards of 200,000 daily passengers commuting through the airport, and thousands of foreign tourists looking to part with their remaining yuan before boarding international flights, most of the airport’s panhandlers are able to earn over 10,000RMB per month, with some earning as much as a million. Quite the opposite of homeless, the majority of airport panhandlers are able to rent apartments in nearby housing complexes, and commute daily by bus or taxi.

One such panhandler, Lang Peikun, better known as “The Blind” (on account of his habit of pretending to be blind to earn more money), has been panhandling at the airport for years. According to Lang, the panhandlers at Baiyun Airport are “generally very experienced”. In fact, Lang has been operating out of the airport for so long, that he now “works” with a network of panhandlers spread across the airport that communicate with mobile phones. If a particular airport gate is busy, the others will move to ensure a profitable day.

Xu Yongjun, manager of airport security is well aware of the problem. However he argues there simply isn’t the manpower to adequately address the issue: “The terminal has 36 gates… these vagrants and beggars are simply impossible to defend against.”

Yongjun and Pan are currently pressuring local government to enact legislation restricting panhandling at the airport. Pan says he wants to ensure aid gets to those who actually need it: “We cannot be arbitrarily too hard, but we have to take flexible measures.” Until then, both men argue they will continue to help as best they can.