Can You Spare a Yuan?

Beggars and panhandlers are a common sight in Shanghai and surrounding cities. One finds them on the subways, near retail doorways, on stairs in underground walkways, everywhere. Some are aggressive while others just sleep sprawled in passageways with a bowl next to their head to receive coins. This is not the China the authorities want outsiders to see - especially in relatively rich Shanghai. But there's just too many beggars for the authorities to deal with.

Foreigners are a favorite target of the beggars because they know foreigners tend to be soft-hearted and/or gullible. It's hard for us to discern between the needy and the opportunistic. Is the lady displaying her sickly baby really a mother in need or is she abusing the baby cruelly in a fraudulent scheme designed to tug at heart strings? Is the man begging for coins on the subway really in need or is this just an easy way to make money? It is so hard to know. While one wants to help those who need help one also doesn't want to reward those who are frauds - the social parasites that take money that would otherwise go to the truly needy.

Each Sunday the International Community Church on Hengshan Road has a number of very aggressive panhandlers posted around the perimeter. They target the charitable Christians coming and going from church. I see the same ones there every week. The mother who points out prospects to her small daughters who are launched like heat-seeking missiles toward the target. Once the coins are in hand the children call back to the mother "I got it!" If the coins aren't forthcoming the child gets a scolding from the mother (?). Then there's the pushy middle-aged lady that hounds foreigners mercilessly for a block. She's always there.

One thing I've noticed is that the beggars or panhandlers are never found hanging around outside the Communist Party offices around the city.