A new reporting system will be implemented at Guangzhou's urban and security administration departments to cope with organized begging.

According to the new system, which is under planning, vagrants or beggars will be placed on file and suspects in organized begging will be rounded up and sent back to their places of origin by Guangzhou police.

Zhang Deming, deputy director-general of the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau, said police were seeking measures to deal with beggars involved in illegal activities and fraud.

Some Guangzhou citizens suggested giving only food to beggars to frustrate those begging as a profession.

An increasing number of beggars have been seen on the streets in recent months after new measures for aid and management for urban vagrants and beggars was implemented last July.

According to the law, vagrants can receive help from aid centers if they are unable to feed themselves. But few vagrants seek aid at the centers.

It was previously common practice in many big cities to collect vagrants and place them in temporary confinement before deporting them to their places of origin.

(Shenzhen Daily January 13, 2004)