An unprecedented lawsuit is bringing public attention to the thorny issue of regional discrimination, which has been brewing as China's population becomes increasingly peripatetic and perceptions collide.

On May 23, a court in Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan Province, began hearings on a lawsuit filed by two local residents against the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, in South China's Guangdong Province.

It has been called the first case of its kind because Ren Chengyu and Li Dongzhao, the two plaintiffs, are suing Shenzhen's Longgang District Police Sub-station for allegedly violating their constitutionally guaranteed rights of "equality."

The story goes back to March 30, when two large banners appeared outside a produce market in the southern city of Shenzhen. They read: "Resolutely strike at Henan racketeering gangs" and "Anyone with information on Henan gangs which leads to solving of the case will get a 500-yuan (US$60) reward." The banners were put up by Longxin Police Substation in Longgang District.

The outcry was immediate as there is a sizeable Henanese community in the district and the national media picked up the story.

On April 15, Ren and Li, two legal professionals in Zhengzhou, filed a suit claiming that the banners had infringed on the rights of Henan people, damaged their reputation and caused mental trauma.

A spokesman for the Shenzhen police station explained the banners were put up by a patrol officer without his supervisor's approval. He added that in the first three months of this year, the community police station had caught 17 suspects involved in five racketeering gangs -- all from Henan Province.

After the media exposure, the local police have even gone door to door and apologized to Henan natives in their district.

Ren and Li said the verbal apology was not good enough and demanded a formal expression of contrition in a national media outlet.

Denigration

The lawsuit is the culmination of a long string of incidents that many call the "demonization of Henan people."

For a while, it seemed every other negative story originated in Henan: the AIDS village in Wenlou, the serial killer in Pingyu who mutilated almost 20 teenage boys, the poisonous rice in Yuanyang and the "cotton that's rotten inside" in Xuchang area among the better known.

There is a tendency in some parts of China to portray Henan natives as "cheats," "frauds" or "thieves." Stories abound of how Henanese use ingenious methods to trick people from other parts of the country for gain.

It has reached such a proportion that it is part of folklore.

On a primetime television show on CCTV, China's national network, all the crooks speak Henan dialect.

Li Dongzhao, one of the two plaintiffs in the Shenzhen banner case, recounted an incident he experienced first-hand in 1993: he was dining in a Nanjing restaurant and was being treated quite well.

But when the proprietor learned of his birthplace, he abruptly pulled back his hand just as he was about to shake Li's.

"How could you be a Henanese?" he murmured.

And the other patrons looked at Li as if he had done something horrible.

It's economics

Experts say that such brazen bias and bigotry have their roots in economics. Henan, the cradle of Chinese civilization and homeland of almost 100 million people, is a predominantly rural land with a poverty level greater than the national average.

Some 14 million have left their hometowns in search of better jobs.

Henan people get unfair treatment when they are away from home just as migrant workers from other rural areas get the cold shoulder from urban dwellers.

Rural labourers are poor; they are perceived as carrying their bad habits with them; and, a disproportionate rate of urban crime is committed by them.

"When you study the migrant population by region, you'll notice the amount of resources associated with the region can affect one's standing in a new community," said Yuan Yue, president of the Horizon Research Group.

Those from Guangdong or Zhejiang are less likely to be stereotyped in poor light than those from Henan or, to a lesser extent, Anhui. Why? Because economically the former provinces are in better positions than the national average, analyzed Yuan, who is a legal and sociological specialist.

But why do mostly urban residents perceive Henanese as "worse" than migrants from Sichuan or Anhui, that are equally indigent and churn out just as many migrant workers?

Zhao Xinbing, a Beijing journalist and Henan native, examined the causes in his book "Why Are You Picking on Henanese?"

He traces the current wave of intolerance to 1993 when a Henan pharmacy was caught making fake drugs.

Henan is closer to Beijing, which is the national nerve centre for media, and draws lopsided attention over the other poor provinces, Zhao argued.

Other experts trace it to a much earlier age. Xue Yong, a US-based essayist, wrote in Beijing News that Henan lost its stature as the trading hub when the drive for modernization in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) shifted the weight of transportation from the Grand Canal to ocean shipping and rail lines. Besides, the periodic flooding of the Yellow River threw millions of Henanese into exile, forcing them to wander and beg for resources.

Wrongful stereotyping

However, the phenomenon goes deeper than only one province or one social stratum. The two-tier residency system (hukou) intrinsically discriminates against all outsiders, especially those with rural residency permits. Many "Help Wanted" ads carry the precondition that applicants must have local "hukou." And public schools charge a much higher fee for non-locals, if they are allowed to enroll at all.

Yuan Yue of Horizon Research attributes the prejudice also to "grass-roots habits."

Southerners feel northerners are stolid while northerners say southerners are crafty. Inland folks say coastal people are too money-oriented and those along the coast say inlanders don't have business sense. "Every region has a stereotype," he told China Daily.

Whenever an item of bad news, such as an egregious crime, appears on the web, the most automatic response from readers on online forums is to blame the whole region where the criminal comes from. Adding insult to injury, netizens are predominantly young and educated, not the traditional "backward" lot.

Yuan Yue says that regional discrimination is irrational, but it has little to do with media reports. "Guangdong has plenty of negative coverage," he says, "but it doesn't really change anything. People with prejudice find negative examples to reinforce their narrow-mindedness. It is just one outlet."

This kind of stereotyping occurs most often when a considerable portion of the population from a specific region start to migrate. "People don't have an opinion of those in isolation," he adds.

For all the bad experiences Henanese have suffered, Yuan said that discrimination by region, though pervasive in China, is not as serious as one would fear. There are two yardsticks he uses for severity: Is it a factor in hiring practices or does it trigger mental distress?

Even though there have been sporadic reports of such incidents, Yuan argues it is by no means systematic, which will make the Shenzhen case shaky. On top of that, it would be difficult to prove that the officer who put up the banners did it out of malice, he said.

Yuan further contends that it weakens the case, which is more like staking a moral high ground, when it is tried in a Henan court. "The best way," he suggested, "is for a media organization to open a moral court and invite one jury member from each province. That will spread the word of 'all equal under heaven' and dispel the clouds of stigma in a more effective manner."

(China Daily June 16, 2005)