The backpacker said he had just arrived from Kunming by train, and is planning to go to Hong Kong. He claims to only have RMB 40 on his person, and is relying on the generosity of others to cover his train tickets and accommodation.

The backpacker follows in the steps of 25 year-old Victor from Poland who was seen begging at Guangzhou East Railway Station last November. Victor said he ran out of money while backpacking, and relied on the kindness of strangers, while police and workers at the station claim Victor is a professional panhandler who can make as much as RMB 1000 a day.

Much like the Russian backpacker, Victor said he intended to use the money earned from begging to travel to Kunming, and then continue onwards to Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.

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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

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We told you earlier that foreigners are being warned to ensure they have all the proper paperwork to live and work in Shenzhen. But the government certainly isn’t picking on laowai: it is also ridding Shenzhen of anybody else it doesn’t like prior to the games. From the China Daily:

Shenzhen has ejected about 80,000 “potentially unstable people” in a bid to secure social stability for the upcoming 26th Summer Universiade, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.

Shen Shaobao, vice director of Shenzhen Police Bureau announced the figure from the “100-days Social Security Campaign” during a news conference.

“People living in Shenzhen without proper identity, justifiable reasons and those acting suspiciously posing a threat to people and the social security are what we called unstable residents,”said Shen.

Eight groups of people are listed in the high-alert category, including former inmates, nomads, unemployed vagrants, people engaged in suspicious activity including drug trafficking and contraband goods. Since January police have also removed people who live by fraudulent means such as child-beggars, mentally ill people who pose a danger to others, and unregistered residents who earn money in the rental business and unclassified floating residents.

The Public Security Bureau is getting good at this, having done the same in Beijing in 2008 and Shanghai and Guangzhou in 2010. The question is, what does the Universiade think about it? The Wall Street Journal tried to find out:

Neither Shenzhen police nor the International University Sports Federation, the Belgium-based organization that puts on the Summer Universiade, responded to written requests for comment from The Wall Street Journal. It’s unclear where evicted residents were transferred and how officials determined which mentally ill residents posed a threat to public safety.

If you are an “undesirable” or an “unemployed vagrant”, best to lay low until October.

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