The Beggar Master

You see beggars in China as you do everywhere. The beggars in China, however, are always either really old and/or handicapped. This is certainly different from the US where they are almost exclusively able bodied grown men. So I do give a kuai (1 yuan) to these beggars when I see them, which is not all that often. They don't hang out in the suburbs/village area where my college is located, but there are quite a few in the downtown area. A friend of mine, who I will call Dundee, gave me more information about the beggar scene and I have verified this with some Chinese friends. Apparently, the beggar scene is quite competitive and is largely controlled by organized crime. In the big cities, there is a usually a quite powerful mafia boss--the Beggar Master--that controls the beggar population and approved begging locations. His minions go to the villages and find severely handicapped people. They will give a sum of money to their relatives to be allowed to take the handicapped people away. The handicapped will be provided a bed and rice to eat, and in return they must of course go beg all day. Most of the money they successfully earn through their beggary must go to the Beggar Master and his minions. This arrangement is not quite the land of milk and honey as it may seem, b/c apparently there is a quota of how much each beggar must earn depending on the quality of the real estate he is provided and if he does not reach the quota he will be severely beaten. Apparently the same system exists in India, except the Beggar Master there has even more power since India has such a huge population of beggars. If a shopkeeper pisses off the Beggar Master, the BM will bring hundreds of his beggars and have them sit around in front of the shop and hang out inside, basically scaring off all the customers. So don't mess with the Beggar Master!