Answers elusive on bullying in MSU's Chinese community

Lansing State Journal, Detroit Free Press

The group of Michigan State University Chinese undergraduates at the center of the recent karaoke club beating trial called themselves "chengguan."

Witnesses offered varying reasons, or no reason at all, as to why the group used the name, or why members had police-badge-like stickers on their vehicles displaying the name. In China, chengguan refers to a "para-police force" that operates in more than 300 cities, said Sarah Swider, a sociology professor at Wayne State University who has studied the chengguan extensively.

They enforce city rules, but they also are known for extortion and violence, Swider said, particularly against rural migrant street vendors. Each city hires its own, and although they can wear uniforms and badges, they operate separately from police. A handful of beatings, and even killings, at the hands of chengguan, have led to massive protests.

Swider said the western understanding of what a gang is does not "easily translate to Chinese forms of organization."