There are also many actions going on against "crime"of different sources. This week in TV and newspapers we have seen actions against the illegal taxis (heiche) and on Thursday the government office in charge of monitoring illegal taxis destroyed 313 vehicles (in front of a big media crowd) as part of a major campaign to crack down on illegal taxi drivers. The campaign has seen more than 1,000 vehicles destroyed in recent weeks. Authorities have also announced that if heiche drivers are caught a second time (the first time they simply get off with a warning), they risk serious consequences including fines and being detained by the police.
But it's not just the city's heiche drivers who are being subject to closer scrutiny, in an effort to clean up the city before August's Olympic Games, city authorities have also announced measures to clear the city of those small ads (xiao guanggao) that advertise everything from fake documents to various sex products, flight tickets, massage and are pasted on every surface throughout the city, from bus stops to footbridges. Authorities are offering a reward for 1 yao for every xiao guanggao that pepople scrape off and also rewards of up to 2,000 RMB for informing on people engaged in distributing the ads.
Police have also been cracking down on scalpers (seeling tickets of different kind with high profit) with plain clothes cops being deployed in force, not only at Good Luck Beijing sporting events, but also at the Jay Chou concert that took place at Gongti on May 1 - 130 police officers detained 30 scalpers at the concert.
So, in August we will have a cleaner Beijing - in many ways...
