China's "Chengguan," the para-police agency tasked with enforcing non-criminal urban administrative regulations, is in some circumstances a threat to, rather than a guarantor of, public safety due to the agency's lack of effective official supervision, training, and discipline, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report released on Wednesday.
The 76-page report, "Beat Him, Take Everything Away," documents abuses by the Chengguan Urban Management Law Enforcement forces, including assaults on suspected administrative law violators, some of which lead to serious injury or death, illegal detention, and unlawful confiscation of property.
"The Chengguan's abusive conduct turns the idea of rule of law on its head," said Sophie Richardson, China Director at HRW. "Instead of carrying out clearly defined and limited activities to enforce the law, some Chengguan are abusing their authority," she added.
Established in 1997, there are now thousands of Chengguan para-police in at least 656 cities across China. In principle, their role is to enforce non-criminal administrative regulations, including rules governing environmental, sanitation, traffic, and urban beautification, and, where legally appropriate, impose fines on violators. They do not have the legal authority to detain or use excessive force against suspected violators of non-criminal administrative regulations.
However, there is no overarching national regulatory framework laying out the permissible scope of Chengguan duties, no uniform training requirements or code of conduct, and no systematic monitoring and investigation of alleged Chengguan abuses, leading to ad hoc, localized regulation and control of the force.
"Chengguan forces have earned a reputation for brutality and impunity," said Richardson. "They are now synonymous for many Chinese citizens with physical violence, illegal detention, and theft," according to her.
In some violent encounters, members of the Chengguan force have become victims. HRW research also turned up four cases in which Chengguans have been killed in the course of their duties in recent years.
Twenty-five victims of Chengguan abuse, many of them street vendors, described to HRW physical abuse that they were subjected to. Although Chengguan personnel have no legal authority to detain suspects, several interviewees said they were detained.
Reports in Chinese state media echo HRW research on Chengguan abuses. An appendix to the report lists recently published state media articles on incidents of excessive force, unlawful detention, and a failure by government officials and police to take legal action against the alleged Chengguan perpetrators.
Public resentment of Chengguan abuses and the apparent impunity these forces enjoy have fueled a number of violent protests in cities across China. Chengguans have been implicated in abusive forced evictions of residents from their homes at a time of what one Chinese human rights organization has described as a "pandemic of illegal demolition." Chinese journalists who attempt to report on Chengguan abuses have also been targeted with illegal detention and physical violence.
"Chengguan abuses are an open scandal in China," Richardson said, and urged the government to "move swiftly to publicly and unambiguously condemn Chengguan assaults and investigate those responsible for such acts."
Concerns about Chengguan excesses have prompted calls for reform from Chinese legal experts and scholars. Proposed remedies range from new, stringent laws on Chengguan operations and conduct, to outright abolition of the units and transfer of their duties to China's Public Security Bureau (police). Some municipalities have responded to criticism of Chengguan abuses by imposing limitations on Chengguan powers, such as explicit prohibitions on Chengguan use of "excessive force" in the discharge of their duties.
"Impunity for Chengguan abuses is consistent with a larger trend of increasingly powerful, well-funded, but wholly unaccountable security agencies in China," Richardson said. She warned that "the Chengguan's ability to flout China's laws and inflict harm on members of the public is a recipe for greater public resentment and more violent confrontations."
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.