Mao praised it, Xi Jinping is pushing it: what renewed focus on ‘Fengqiao experience’ says about China ‘in the new era’
- Mao-era ‘Fengqiao experience’ model of resolving social conflicts at the grass-roots level has received new lease of life under Xi
- But system could also be used as a surveillance tool and make lower-level officials hide problems from their bosses, analysts warn
When Huzhou police officer Jiang Yunhui received a call from one of the thousands of “safety consultants” spread across the city in China’s eastern Zhejiang province, he knew something was up.
“A man from our factory listened to his uncle’s advice and downloaded an app,” the consultant said. “He is going to transfer money.”
Sensing the family was about to get scammed, Jiang immediately tipped off community authorities in the area. An anti-fraud officer then cautioned the uncle about the risks of online transfers, thus saving him from being scammed for 440,000 yuan (US$60,300), the official China Police Daily reported.
China Police Daily called the incident the latest example of the “Fengqiao experience in the ‘new era’”, referencing the phrase used by President Xi Jinping to describe China under his governance. With the aid of big data, it took only five minutes for the police to prevent a cybercrime, the report said.
Dating back to the times of Mao Zedong, the “Fengqiao experience”, or fengqiao jingyan, is a mechanism for mobilising the masses to resolve social conflicts at the grass-roots level without needing to involve higher legal bodies. It is named after the district in Zhejiang reported to have been praised by Mao in 1963 for managing social problems locally.