Chinese police love to put up propaganda posters showing the public who they are and what they do. One police department in East China may have gone a little too far with their publicity shots.
Published on People's Daily, the communist mouthpiece, the photos feature East China's Huangyang police department. Located in Zhejiang province's Taizhou city, images of the officers can can be seen on local billboards. The photos were then posted on Chinese social media where they created a stir of bemusement. Chinese netizens have both been praising the images and ridiculing them.
The photos mirror some of Hong Kong's famous police dramas with the 34 officers of the Huangyan police department posing with guns. In addition to the giant group photo, there are individual posters featuring different members of the force.
The individual posters indicate each officer's name and rank. The slogan on the bottom of the poster reads, "You're not fighting alone". Which is kind of weird. What would the people be fighting?
In the photos, the officers are carrying guns, which is interesting because most officers in China do not carry guns. The laws have changed slightly in that officers in Shanghai are allowed to carry and officers in Beijing can shoot suspects with probable cause, but most police in China do not carry guns on their person, nor do they wear bulletproof vests.
Netizens have pointed out that the posters look very similar to the Hong Kong films Cold War and FireStorm 3D.
Here's posters for Cold War.
Here's some for Firestorm.
Seeing these images, I'm not sure if I should be scared, amused, or just plain confused. The sight of guns does concern me. I don't need Chinese police carrying guns looking menacingly at me, I get that when I go home to New York.
浙江台州民警海报模仿港剧[People's Daily]
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian Internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.
Eric is a Beijing based writer and all around FAT man. You can contact him @FatAsianTechie@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @FatAsianTechie