The 25 year-old Polish man, identified as “Victor”, said he arrived in Guangzhou last week and quickly spent the $500 he had saved to backpack throughout Asia. With no money, Victor has had to rely on the kindness of strangers who have been willing to help him buy the 200 yuan ticket to Kunming, where he plans to continue onward to Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.

Knowing no Chinese, Victor sits at the No. 1 entrance to the train station with a sign that reads “Ticket to Kunming” (seen below).

However, locals say Victor is lying, and that he’s always at the train station panhandling. A janitor named Zhang claims he even knows how much Victor makes in a typical day:

Don’t believe him, he’s been here for about ten days now. Foreigners are generous and give him one or two hundred yuan while Chinese usually just give him ten or twenty yuan. In a day, he can usually make about a thousand yuan.

An unidentified police officer confirmed Zhang’s account saying, “He’s been here for about a month now. I saw him before I went on my vacation on October 10.”

When a reporter with the Southern Capital Report confronted Victor, he immediately came clean and explained, “I’ve been here for ten days, but if I were to explain that I’ve been here for so long, people will get mad.” When asked how much money he has made from begging, Victor would only say that Guangzhou residents are “really friendly”.

If it seems like Victor has worn out his welcome in Guangzhou, no one appears to be showing him the door. Guangzhou police have admitted there’s little they can do:

He hasn’t caused a public disturbance, so we can’t force him to leave. Sometimes we have a communication problem (with him).

The fluently-English speaking Polish expat said that he has decided to leave for Kunming very soon, but then cryptically ended the interview by asking:

Out of a hundred percent, how much of my story do you believe?

Related:

• Giant LED screen in Shenzhen broadcasts footage of alleged fake beggars
• Beggars in Shenzhen living secret lives of luxury? Some say it’s true

The post People Don’t Know What to Make of Expat Backpacker Begging at Guangzhou Station appeared first on The Nanfang.

Eighty-six Chengguan, urban administators who are not police but do basic police work, were sent abroad last year to attend events such as the International Botanical Congress (IBC) according to the Nanfang Daily.

Netizens wondered why Chengguan were being sent for training, at the tax payer’s expense, to country’s where no such role exists, according to Shenzhen Daily.

The Urban Administration Bureau explained on its microblog Sept. 24 that most of the Chengguan were sent to train for the Universiade, and for the IBC which will be held in Shenzhen in 2017.

Chengguan were sent to countries such as Hungary, Poland, the United States and Canada, and the bureau said it may release the findings of an inspection report after it has been completed.

Chengguan are not popular figures in today’s China, as you can see from some of the earlier controversies we told you about.

However, some Chengguan did redeem themselves to many netizens in late 2010, according to Chinasmack.

The post Shenzhen’s chengguan sent abroad for training, public wondering what they learned appeared first on The Nanfang.