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The secret world of beggars
A young student's research into Shanghai's begging phenomenon'has uncovered telling insights into the lives of those who beg for money

The lives of local beggars are not as bad as people usually think, according to a 17- earold female student who has conducted 265 interviews with beggars on the streets of Shanghai.

Huang Yan has just completed an in-depth report about the socalled "begging phenomenon" in the city.

Huang, a student of grade two
at No.2 High School of East China Normal University, spent almost all her free time over the past eight months interviewing and photographing street beggars for the 48- page report.

"I was a little shocked when I discovered that the average income of some local beggars can be over 1,000 yuan per month," said Huang about her investigation.
The average monthly income in Shanghai is just over 2,000 yuan according to the authority statistics last year.

"In addition, there are a great many differences from the traditional image of beggars who ask for food in order to maintain a living. In fact, 221 of the 265 beggars I interviewed said they bought food with the money they collected."

Good pay, less work

According to the student's statistics, about 38 percent of beggars can get between 41 to 60 yuan every day, while 9 percent of beggars can make more than 80 yuan a day.

"Of course, they wouldn't tell me the full truth about their income. So I just followed them for several hours and estimated their daily income myself," said the young student, who is both talkative and confident.

"The beggars nowadays are not begging for food but money, and they are not all weak people who are unable to work," she opinioned.

About 65 percent of the beggars she met were aged between 18 and 60 years old. Only 22 percent beggars were less than 6-years-old, or older than 60.

One beggar left a deep impression on the student. A young man called himself an "occupational beggar", and said he had made a conscious choice to live that way. "He was interesting and honest," said Huang.

Huang said that 63 of the people she interviewed were "occupational beggars" who were not wandering alone in the streets because of a lack of money or accommodation. Staff at a government homeless shelter told Huang that about 80 percent of the street people in Shanghai were occupational beggars.

About 75 percent of the people Huang interviewed had begged on the streets for more than one year. At least 26 percent had begged for more than three years.

"Considering their income, I can only conclude that some beggars are occupational. They view begging as a job. The reason for them to live such a humble lifestyle is the 'high pay, less labor' mentality."

A total of 198 beggars she interviewed said they would continue begging, while 44 were willing to accept governmental support and go back home. Eighteen said they would go back to their hometown immediately after earning enough money.

"But I still hold a sympathetic attitude towards beggars," said Huang. "Not only because they live such a poor life, but also because they lose their sense of being a real person."

Buying time

Living in a happy family, Huang's life was a world away from what she encountered on the city streets.

Huang said the idea of conducting a report on beggars first came to her mind last July, when she took the city metro with a visiting student from Britain. A 6-year-old beggar suddenly grasped for the Briton's pants. Meanwhile, there was another young beggar girl in the train, doing the same thing.

The British student asked Huang how many beggars were living in Shanghai, and what their impact was on the society.

Learn more about this author, Xingxiang Fu.
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