To put it frankly: the role of Chinese Heat (fuzz, cops, "the man") is far more focused on appearance than actual substance. Often I have seen pristinely-uniformed fuzz calmly watch an intersection while people run red lights, speed, and jay walk all over the place--but in matters of things that are new, controversial, or in some way or another high-profile, then the cops are all over it. For example, a gorgeous new park--complete with gazebos and ponds and great garden work--opened not far away from where I live. When the park is closed at night, I swear, there are no less than 20 uniformed men and women hanging around and patrolling a space that can be no larger than two city blocks, maximum. During the day time there are almost just as many cops, who patrol the park with megaphones, shouting warnings to those who sit on the bench-like bridge railings.
This model can be applied to larger policies of Chinese gov't. Of course, because of potentially getting in trouble by typing certain words together here on the internet, I'm restricting the things I say a little bit. You've probably noticed that thusfar I've used slang for Chinese _____ (rhymes with o-leese), just to be on the safe side. I've had friends that have gotten their e-mails shut down just for joking about things related to this.
BUT, as I was saying, what I've seen here with Kunming's Finest is right in line with Chinese policies concerning other places, namely T183t (thank you l33t speak). Frankly, the only reason the place was ever inv@d3d was to uphold the image of the c0mmun1st revolution--the idea that the people of T183t had to be L18er@t3d may hold some water in the context of the somewhat brutal presence of the pre-integration feudal system that held sway there, BUT real reasons for inv@si0n were essentially to fuel the nationalistic revolution, and to gain power over one of the most important nexi in the Buddhist religion.
Eh, to be on the safe side, ask me more about these things some other time--preferably NOT via e-mail. But you can get a sense of the issue from what I've said so far, I think. Just like how China is essentially under a capitalist economic structure now, the role of Chinese gov't is to uphold the image of a stratified communist society--without necessarily following through with the substance.
(If you still haven't gotten it by now, I'm talking about these guys. No, not the doves.)
-s
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