The culture bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China announced on Wednesday that it had decided to remove Tangshan from the list of “national civilized cities” – the highest recognition for a Chinese city. “The price of a civilized city belongs to all citizens and can not be soiled or desecrated,” said China City News, a news agency affiliated with the official People’s Daily. “When he faced so many problems, Tangshan clearly did not show the warmth of a [civilised] city.” The attack on four women by a group of men on June 10 shocked the nation and sparked a wider Chinese internet discussion about violence against women. Nine men have since been arrested for the attack and at least five local police have been investigating in the past 24 hours in connection with the incident. According to Chinese media, Tangshan has been awarded the title of “civilized city” four times in a row, the last time being awarded in 2020. The title was established in 2005 and is awarded once every three years. Nearly half of the country’s 600 cities, counties and towns had been named since the end of last year. Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7 p.m. BST Cities are judged on their level of overall development, their environment as well as their attractiveness to people from abroad. Grading is done through inspections by the central government and the title is reviewed once every three years. The attack has put Tangshan in the national spotlight. In recent days, Chinese media have reported that one of the defendants – whose last name is Chen – had previously been involved in other legal cases, including money laundering. The revelation prompted the local city party committee to call for an investigation into the incident “to find out which government officials had interests and ties to Chen and others. [suspects]”.
