Virtual China

Citizen journalist site Molive/Moobol 直播客 has a special section called "Chinese City Management in the Eyes of Netizens," which collects both positive and negative on-the-scene photos of policemen such as "Beijing City Official Steals Money from Beggar" and the follow-up story from the New Capital Daily in which both the policeman and the old woman he was accused of stealing from refute the accusation; photos of a group of police and social workers trying to get homeless people out of an underground pedestrian walkway; and a series of good deeds performed by Beijing city management.

Most common seem to be pictures of officials and police trying to maintain public spaces in the face of China’s urban beggars and homeless, who often show up in the photos resisting attempts to be taken away for "assistance." According to one story, a woman who wanted the police to stay away from her told them she was covered with lice and they’d jump on anyone who got too close. (The photographer said s/he had bites for the next week).  The photos tell a complex set of stories about those on the front lines of the downside of Chinese reforms–that is, the poorest, the weakest, the crowd, and the police.  You see the abject poverty of peasants who come to the city to beg, the difficulty of getting them off the streets, the abuse of the weak in broad daylight, and how Chinese citizens armed with camera-phones are practicing sousveillance — "watchful vigilance from underneath". 

A homeless peasant in the city:

Other photos like this one from the Beijing policeman and the old woman beggar–whether or not he stole her money or not–bring the arrogance of authority into full view:

While still others, like this one from a Guangzhou crowd angered at a police beating of a street peddler, show officials and "crowd representatives" negotiating public acceptance of an apology: