It's literally a case of if you can't beat them, you may as well persuade them.

After months of criticism about heavy-handed tactics by urban management officials, known as chengguan, some local governments have gone on a charm offensive to cleanse city streets of unlicensed peddlers.

Chengguan in Wuhan, Hubei Province, successfully shut down an illegal sidewalk snack booth by merely standing and staring at the customers, the city-based Chutian Metropolis Daily reported.

On June 15, Wuhan sent nearly 400 chengguan officers to manage unlicensed sidewalk peddlers across the city. They were told to use tactics like persuasion and education to deter peddlers in a bid to avoid violence.

After failing to persuade the peddler to halt the illegal business, about 50 chengguan stood in a circle around the stall with hands clasped behind their backs and silently stared at the peddler and the guests. After half an hour, guests left in a rush while the peddler cleared up the stall and went home.

In January, Foshan in Guangdong Province hired a group of 22 female chengguan officers, Nanfang Daily reported. Most of them were college graduates with an average age of 25.

Their duties included persuading illegal roadside peddlers to close up shop and publicizing urban management regulations to local citizens.

In May, the urban administrative department in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province decided not to fine illegal peddlers who were laid-off workers, students, disabled, elderly or exceptionally poor, People's Daily reported.

Urban management officers in China have long been criticized for their arbitrary and sometimes crude enforcement tactics, and conflict with street peddlers is frequent.

(China Daily July 17, 2009)