每日英语：Vender Assault Shines Ugly Light on China's Urban Enforcers

The sudden death of a street vendor in Hunan province on Wednesday provoked outrage chengguan, or urban management officers.

vender：卖主，小贩　　　　outrage：愤怒，愤慨，暴行　　　　

Deng Zhengjia was selling watermelons with his wife in Linwu county, Hunan province, when several chengguan said that they were at the wrong spot, according to an announcement issued by the local government and quoted by official media (in Chinese). The chengguan confiscated four watermelons from them, and asked them to move to another area, according to the announcement. Mr. Deng and his wife moved to an area approved for street vending, according to an interview the wife did published by the official China News Service (in Chinese).

confiscated：充公，没收　　　　

About 50 minutes later, Mr. Deng and his wife got into a scuffle with the same group of chengguan at the permitted spot, according to the announcement. Mr. Deng suddenly fell down and died, the announcement said.

scuffle：混战，扭打　　

Witnesses quoted by China News Service said Mr. Deng fell down about 10 seconds after seven or eight chengguan started to beat him with the weight from his scale. The officers continued to kick his body after he fell down and refused to call 120, China's medical emergency line, according to Mr. Deng's wife and witnesses quoted by the service (in Chinese)

This is the most recent case of a series of tragic conflicts between street vendors and the chengguan, or municipal security guards empowered to enforce city ordinances. Xia Junfeng, a street vendor in northeastern city Shenyang, stabbed two officers to death after they beat him up in 2009. Mr. Xia's plight received a flood of public sympathy as chengguan are believed to abuse their power.

municipal：市政的，市的　　　　ordinances：条例，法令　　　　plight：困境，境况，誓约　　

Calls to the local publicity bureau in Linwu were unanswered on Thursday afternoon. A person who picked up the call at the urban management administration, where the local chengguan work, said he was not clear about the event.

bureau：局，处，办事处　　　　

'China's chengguan are addicted to beating up people,' said a user on Weibo, Sina Corp.'s popular microblogging service. Some said the tragedy 'couldn't be tolerated by God' and was 'the nightmare of China.'

nightmare：噩梦，梦魇

Many users called for the closing down of the urban management administration entirely. ※It is time to shut down this deformed organization!§ Yuan Yuncai, a Television guest speaker who has over 100,000 followers, wrote on Weibo.

deformed：畸形的，丑陋的，残废的　　　　

After the tragedy, Wang Juntao, a popular microblogger who posts under the name ※Laorong,§ retweeted one of his old posts about Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian street vendor who immolated himself after his scale was confiscated by authorities. Mr. Bouazizi＊s self-immolation triggered the revolution later known to the world as Arab Spring.

immolated：献祭的，牺牲的　　　　

Thousands took to the streets in Linwu county of Hunan province on Wednesday and Thursday in order to keep the dead body from being taken away by local law enforcement officers, according to local media. People believed that keeping the body for autopsy was the only way to prove that the vendor was lethally beaten.

autopsy：验尸　　　　lethally：致命地，危害地

Around 4 a.m. on Thursday morning, however, about 200 local police officers intruded the crowd with sticks and shields, taking the body away, said witnesses and reporters, including a reporter from the website of state broadcaster China Central Television (in Chinese). Bloody pictures of injured civilians were posted on Weibo, and two reporters from a local Hunan television network also alleged that they were beaten when interviewing witnesses.

On Thursday, the family of Mr. Deng consented to an autopsy conducted by a forensic team designated by the local government, but only on the condition that they be allowed to be present during the autopsy and keep samples from it, according to Hunan Daily, a Communist Party newspaper. Hunan Daily＊s official Weibo account later deleted most of its posts about the event.

consent：同意，赞成　　　　forensic：法院的，法医　　　　press conference：记者招待会，新闻发布会

The autopsy was conducted on Thursday afternoon around 2:30 p.m., according to Hunan Daily. The local government held a press conference at 4:00 p.m. but didn＊t announce results.