When my friend heard the early morning knock on his front door and found three policemen standing outside, his heart jumped. Every kind of offence flashed through his mind, from unpaid bills or taxes to injudicious, late-night posts on social media.
But it turned out that the officers were not there to see him; they wanted to speak to his mother-in-law. She had been caught shoplifting at a discount clothing chain store and they had come to take her away.
“She’s spending five days in the slammer,” he told me.
“I just dropped off her Prozac and the place is not bad. I think it used to be a quarantine centre during Covid.”
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My friend’s mother-in-law has lived with him and his wife for almost three years, helping to take care of their two young children. His wife was shocked when she heard about the shoplifting and immediately called her father, who lives far away in northeast China.
Short custodial sentences in detention centres lasting a few days are a common punishment in China for misdemeanours like petty theft and getting into fights
“Oh, so she’s doing that again,” he said.
“Again?” his daughter said.
Short custodial sentences in detention centres lasting a few days are a common punishment in China for misdemeanours like petty theft and getting into fights. When I expressed sympathy for his mother-in-law, my friend was having none of it.
“Well, if you want to stay out of there, you shouldn’t go around stealing things,” he said.
For many of the culprits, it is not the few days inside that bothers them so much as the fact that their misdemeanour becomes part of their public record, searchable by everyone from local authorities to prospective employers and landlords. Such a record can damage the employment and education prospects not only of the person who committed the offence but also those of their children.
This will change from January 1st, 2026, when an amended law will require records of all such minor offences to be sealed unless there is a compelling reason to allow a government department to see them. The change is a response to public discontent over the lifelong burden that a youthful indiscretion can impose on otherwise fairly blameless people and their families.
CCTV cameras are ubiquitous in China, inside buildings and on the street, so crimes such as theft are easily detected
Chinese police handle about eight million minor cases every year so the change will have a far-reaching impact. The National People’s Congress, China’s top legislative body, approved the amendment following a resolution adopted last year by the central committee of the Communist Party.
“Common problems faced by individuals with violation records are the inability to find desired jobs, a lack of promotion opportunities and encountering employment discrimination, which sometimes affects their families,” Zhu Zhengfu, a lawyer and a member of the legislature, told China Daily.
CCTV cameras are ubiquitous in China, inside buildings and on the street, so crimes such as theft are easily detected. When a friend who lives near me noticed some of his deliveries going missing, the police found the married couple who stole them within hours of reviewing the video recordings.
“I don’t know why anyone does it. They’ll always get caught,” he said.
What puzzled my friend with the shoplifting mother-in-law was that everything she stole was so cheap, mostly socks and underwear that cost the equivalent of a couple of euros. And in China today, many such items are getting cheaper, along with rent, food and countless services.
The fall in the cost of living offers a buffer for millions of people who have lost their jobs or taken pay cuts during the economic downturn of the past three years. Price wars have meant the cost of big ticket items has plunged too, particularly products such as electric vehicles and solar panels where Chinese manufacturers are producing more than anyone wants to buy.
The government is worried that the intense competition in the domestic market that has made Chinese manufacturers unbeatable around the world has become destructive. Price competition is fuelling deflation so that margins are so narrow that companies are struggling to make a profit in the domestic market.
The idea is that with fewer players in the market, prices will rise and the surviving firms will be more profitable
As the United States and the European Union resist accepting the cut-price products of China’s industrial overcapacity, manufacturers need the domestic market to become more profitable. The government wants to cool competition at home by encouraging consolidation in industries like car manufacturing, batteries, steel, solar panels and chemicals.
The idea is that with fewer players in the market, prices will rise and the surviving firms will be more profitable. The stock market cheered reports this week that the government was poised to act soon, with analysts predicting that the trickle-down effect would also mean a rise in prices of everything from healthcare to food.
As is so often the case, good news for investment bankers may be less welcome for the millions of people in China who depend on low prices to make ends meet. At least the next wave of shoplifters it generates won’t have to worry about their convictions leaving a lifelong stain.
