Photo: Wuhan Evening News

The performance of a street vendor in Wuhan, Hubei Province, who played dead on August 3 to protest their dissatisfaction with how chengguan (urban management officers) enforce the law, was ruined due to the city's sweltering temperatures, Wuhan Evening News reported.

The "body"of the unnamed man was carried on a plank and dropped in front of a chengguan office building near Jiali Square by a group of 10 topless men, who claimed that the vendor had been beaten to death by chengguan. But hours later, the man "rose from the dead"- unable to bear the hot weather a moment longer - and ran away.

During the episode, the men who carried the "body"were in deep mourning, carrying wreathes and playing dirges, passersby who didn't realize the show was a hoax responded with sympathy and anger, posting photos of them online and denouncing the "horrible behavior"of chengguan.

A local official from Wuhan's urban management bureau said that the producer of the "farce"was a man surnamed Li, who is in charge of some 20 street vendors who set up unauthorized stalls and illegally occupy the streets. The official said that despite warnings given to them by chengguan, the group has persisted and has run into many conflicts with chengguan as a result.

Local police detained four of the men involved in the staged protest, including Li. But police have yet to locate the man who played dead in their investigation.

The episode has attracted public attention online due to a series of vicious conflicts between chengguan and street vendors in recent months. Experts suggest that chengguan make their work more transparent to rebuild the public trust and to avoid such scenarios from repeating.

Web editor: gelili@globaltimes.com.cn