Changsha chengguan use super soakers as ‘fun’ way to put out coal-fired barbecues

Officers say that people find this method more enjoyable than when they used to flip over the furnaces and stomp out the fires

China’s most hated public officials are apparently trying to clean up their image by taking a new, more “playful” approach to their work.

Urban management officers — known as chengguan (城管) — in the Hunan capital of Changsha are now equipped with super soakers to help them put out illegal coal fires used most often by streetside food vendors.

As part of its efforts to clean up the skies, China has issued bans against coal burning this winter. While some of these measures may have ended in near catastrophe, the city of Changsha is sticking to a strict no-coal policy — a rule that is often flaunted by vendors who prefer coal over gas because of its lower cost.

While in the past, chengguan, who are notorious for dealing out brutal punishments for minor offenses, were using buckets of water to extinguish the coal fires, or even simply flipping over the furnaces and stomping out the flames, they have since decided that there is a better, less dickish way.

Footage posted online shows a trio of chengguan going around town, squirting out coal fires with colorful water guns.

An officer told reporters that this method was not only safer and better for public relations, but it also saved on water. He also claimed that people even find it “fun.”

And one vendor seems to agree, saying: “At least they weren’t abusive.”

[Images via Chongqing Morning Post]