The authorities in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, are to start categorizing vagrants and beggars in the city in an attempt to give aid to the genuine needy, and to punish cheats and criminals.

The beggars who suffer from genuine hardship will be persuaded to take the government's aid, said Li Weijie, director of Guangzhou Civil Affairs Bureau, last week.

"Those that have the ability to work but take up begging as a job, display their physical defects and affect public order will be punished according to the law," he said.

"The beggars who are too pushy, and those that make money by organizing gangs of begging children, elderly people, and disabled people will be cracked down on," Li said.

The official's bureau will work with the public security bureau, the urban administration bureau and other government departments.

The decision to categorize vagrants and beggars comes as the number of professional beggars and "aid station hoppers" is expanding.

"Aid station hoppers" are people who, using fake personal documentation, travel from one aid station for homeless people to another around the country.

They secure food and shelter by cheating, and make money by selling the train tickets they receive free of charge to allow them to go home.

Some of them even beat up workers at aid stations when their requests are turned down.

Media reports about this issue have appeared in Zhejiang and Fujian provinces.

A loafer from Shenzhen, Guangdong, even told a newspaper that he aimed to travel around the entire country using the free train tickets he gets from the aid stations. He has been to more than 20 cities already.

In Guangzhou, up to 80 percent of beggars are professionals who are not in genuine need, according to statistics released by the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Bureau in July.

Partly to deal with this situation, the Ministry of Civil Affairs in August set up a national online e-management network for homeless people, something that was installed in shelters across the country.

One of the main purposes of the database is to spot those who get benefits by cheating the system, according to the ministry.

Li Weijie said 23,490 vagrants and beggars received government aid in Guangzhou in the first nine months of this year, an average of about 88 people every day.

The five aid stations in Guangzhou have 2,119 beds and are furnished with TV sets and washrooms.

(China Daily November 7, 2005)