UE Section C Q45-66

Beijing buyers cheated by coal gangs(45)

Military police in Beijing have been aiding and abetting criminal gangs (45) who are selling low-quality coal and swindling 40 percent of the city’s coal buyers, according to an investigation by the Workers’ Daily.

Most of Beijing is heated by coal from the Datong mines which are 380 kilometers to the north of the capital. Normally, the coal is shipped to Beijing by rail (47) and its distribution is supposed to be the monopoly (46) of the Beijing Coal Corporation. However, since 1991, the Corporation has seen its annual sales drop from nearly 10 million tonnes to just over six million. Its operating profits have also dwindles to next to nothing.

The Corporation’s prices are being undercut by coal gangs who run a number of illicit schemes. These schemes involve transporting coal by track (48) rather than by rail (47), even though road transport is problematic (50) and theoretically more expensive (49). The gangs overcome transport problems by paying the military police( 51), who then help them in a number of ways. For example, they hire out their military vehicles (52) so that the gangs can evade read and bridge tolls (53) and can even avoid checkpoints(54) . Some gangs buy(56 the verb form has to be changed) military police registration plates, while others make fake(55) plates for their trucks.

On their way to Beijing, the truck drivers usually stop at guesthouses(57) While they are “resting”, the guest house owners (58) mix, or sometimes switch, the Datong coal with inferior coal. The guest house owners make a profit by selling off the Datong coal they remove while the drivers get free board and lodging and subsequently pass off their new loads onto unwary buyers.

There are many other types of illegal activities. Trucks are only allowed to enter Beijing after 8 p.m., and the gangs make full use of the darkness. Some pad the loads out with empty gas barrels(60), used tyres (61) and even large cement blocks (62). Other gangs mix in coal from local mines which is cheaper( 59) but of lower quality

When it comes to selling the coal in Beijing, a number of things may happen. Purchasers often tell what they are buying. Some do know, but accept bribes(63, the answer should be in verb form) of up to 28 yuan a tone for looking the other way. Some customers use weighbrifges to check how much coal they are buying; here the gangs often resort to “making a chicken’s nest” that is, they throw blocks of solid coal(64), which weigh more but are less valuable, onto the trucks’ loads. Indeed, many customers now have to buy twice the amount of winter coal they did before.

Police have been making an effort to stop these illegal activities, but they have achieved very little. Part of the reason for this, according to the Workers’ Daily,

is that the illegal operators receive tip-offs (66) before police raids (65)

Answers: