Law Hui Yip
During the Two Session period, when every time we were on the way to the Tiananmen Square, we encountered inspection several times at checkpoint or simply in the street by law-enforcement personnel in different uniforms.
Unlike Hong Kong where streets are patrolled by police, there are a variety of polices if not law-enforcement personnel in the mainland, they are either administered by the Ministry of National Defense (國防部) or commanded by the Ministry of Public Security (公安部) of the People’s Republic of China.
In the Tiananmen Square area, the largest group of law-enforcement personnel in patrol or in guard post we observed was the Chinese Armed Police Force (CAPF, 武警) who are administered like soldiers and dressed in dark olive-green uniform.
On the other hand, the public security force (公安) or police proper and militia force (民兵) are dressed in dark blue uniform. Another type of law-enforcement personnel is called city-management officers (城管), they are the officers from the local chengguan – city-management bureau.
Nevertheless, a kind of auxiliary police (輔警) that is composed of half volunteers and half professionals has been established to reinforce policing. They are empowered to check the ID card and question any suspicious persons while patrolling the city.
