The undated photo shows two beggars taking a baby in the subway line 2 in Shanghai. [Photo: sina.com]

Though local authorities began issuing regulations to fine those begging on the subway in recent years, it still can't stop subway beggars, whose daily income is often much higher than the amount of the fine.

Most of them are professional beggars. They enter the subway wearing normal clothes and change into a totally different outfit in the rest room. Some disguise themselves as disabled, some pretend having ailing family members, and some broadcast sad music to arouse passengers' sympathy.

Law enforcement officers said them even catch some young female beggars who are college students, are pregnant or take their babies to earn their tuition fees.

A Beijing Daily report said the municipal rail transit law enforcement officers have tackled 835 begging and performing cases since the new punishment took effect on May 1, 2015.

According to the amendment, those who beg or perform in the subway will face a fine from 50 yuan (7.7 US dollars) to 1000 yuan, rather than only being persuaded to go back home.

But still, beggars can find some way to avoid being punished, said Li Haitao, a law enforcement officer at Beijing subway.

Some disabled beggars can run faster than the normal that they can't catch up with them at all, said Li, some deposit their income every hour so that even if they are caught, they have no money to pay the fine.

In Chongqing, authorities have handled nearly 5000 cases of subway begging, peddling and distributing leaflets over the past four month, giving fines that can go as high as 15,000 yuan.

The cartoon indicates a professional beggar has bought two houses in Beijing. [Photo: Beijing Youth Daily]

Zhang Junfeng, a subway law enforcement officer in Chongqing, said since the fine is much lower than beggars' daily income, punishment simply does not work.

Beggars can easily earn several hundred yuan per day, some can even receive more than thousand yuan, much higher than that of of common white-collar workers.

Author： 　　　Source：CRI　　　 Editor：Yang Fan