Comments (21)

non-sense

as a pretty chinese girl, i think they are cool and cute. if you can read any chinese, you can log on chinese bbs, and see how many girls are their fans. are you jealous of them? dont be a wooden head, which only makes you stupid.

@ Joblo:

There's a huge difference between what you saw -- an isolated inccident -- and the connotation of the language you used to depict the WUJING: "try not to piss them off. If you do, they will beat you first and ask questions later. "
I've been in China and particularly Beijing far longer than you, I've never even heard of WuJing's abuses of innocent people. I m denying what you saw do not exist but I dont think they happen as often as you alleged.
In another word, there's a huge difference between personal experiences, yours, and ours.

You met thugs before, so did I. But I dont happen to take one aspect of the perceived "thug" (his affiliation with WUJING for example) to generalize that all people with that attribute are thugs. That's called exaggeration, or not discrimination.

I dont believe a WUJING or for that matter, a Police or soldier could beat people up with no reason and get away with it that easily, in Beijing. I couldnt attest to the same in other places though.

To those of you that feel that I am a racist let me tell you a few things. First, I am married to a Chinese woman. Second, I am the father of a Chinese daughter born in Shanghai. Third, the fender bender took place at the corner of Guanghua Lu and Dongdaqiao where the driver of the WuJing vehicle took it upon himself to beat a bicyclist that had the temerity to accidentally bump his car.

True, we may be "excessive protection" in some countries. But in cases like London, Paris we were overwhelmed by the local mob and politicians. We hoped 007 was there to help us, but it appears he was on the other side.

This seems to be excessive protection just for a torch, since local police was sufficient for previous Olympics.

We are WuJings, the protectors of the torch, and know a lot of martial arts. But we learnt our martial arts with ShaoLin monks - the best in the world. When we learnt the martial arts we were told never to use them - 100% non-violence. By the way, the Tibetan monks only know one technique - screming, ain't good enough.

What's in my black belt: a small pot of torch oil, in case the torch runs out of oil.

What's in my yellow wristband: a key used to adjust the torch flame in case needed. It can turn off the flame too.

What about the back gloves: They are made of special fire resistance material for putting out the torch flame in accidents. It also serves to avoid skin contacts with torch bearer in accidents.

We ware dark glasses in bright days to protect our eye because we have to run a long time.

Did we push the British? Maybe we did touch them gently, but we didn't realize they are sooooo weak. We won't touch them any more. Are we thugs? Well depends on where you stand.

Hey JOBLO: I have been in China for 25 years. I never saw a WuJing beat a man on street. They are usually in the battalions, and you don't even see them much walking around in Uniforms. And please don't use the name of Nazi. Because Nazis go to other people's countries to fight, like the US forces. Wujing usually stays in China. If you want some real "Protection", I think you should go to Irak, US forces are "Protecting" the people in there really well.

I think the the entire world shares those same sentiments Brambles.

Pls, Mr. Pomfret, do they need a law enforcement visa? Does it look like they are on a law enforcement mission? Protecting the fire (from getting extinghished, like in Paris by prostestors) by jogging along? Or you'd rather see the torch snatched away?
I dont understand your making this a headline. You are doing a Chinese blog. You should do better than this. Not many of us care about the Olympics down here. Only you and the Chinese government call it news.

JOBLO,

I just want to add that I hope you live the rest of your life gripped in fear due to your self created "yellow peril" phobia. Be paralyze with fear anytime you see an Asian in uniform ... like the mall security guard. Hahaha... would serve you right...

JOBLO,

"I just wanted to add that I never feel that an FBI or Secret Service agent is going to beat the hell out me because I had a fender bender with their vehicle - that is the difference."

How you "feel" just reveals your prejudice. Have you actually been beat up by Chinese security, or is that just how you feel? How do you "feel" if you saw a group of black teenagers loitering in an alleyway?

They look like something out of Nazi Germany? Did you personally witness Nazi Germany? Indiana Jones movies don't count.

You are nothing but an ignorant racist.

They look like hotties...

I just wanted to add that I never feel that an FBI or Secret Service agent is going to beat the hell out me because I had a fender bender with their vehicle - that is the difference.

I was posted to China for five years with the State Department. I saw these guys every day outside our (and every other) embassy where they provided us with ¨protection¨, mostly from North Korean refugees that might want to climb our fence. When they change shifts it looks like a scene out of Nazi Germany. They are members of the Peoples Armed Police or Wujing, and are nothing more than an elite corps of thugs that lord their power and position over the Chinese civilian population. Hint for visitors to China, if you ever see an automobile with a white license plate starting with ¨WJ¨, try not to piss them off. If you do, they will beat you first and ask questions later. Believe me, I have witnessed it.

I learn from the lede Austin Ramzy's article in TIME ("China's View of the Olympic Torch War") that they are the Sacred Torch Guard Team, selected from the Wujing, or People's Armed Police (PAP).

They need roller blades. I am curious about those black pokets around their waists. They are too cute to be "thugs".

What's wrong of these guys? This is not different from sending FBI agents or secret service agents to protect something important. We can criticize China's violations of human rights or her propaganda through olympics. But what's the point to question these guys?

I was wondering which security agency was being drawn on. The PAP makes sense, I guess, since they're often trained to do riot/crowd control work.

Not just "cops" -- these are wujing, China's version of the gendarmerie.

Were these guys padded down for weapons ?