(妙招 miàozhāo）
What to do when you wake up one morning and find that the manhole covers in your neighborhood have gone missing? You could suffer in silence, you could call the local police, you could write letters of complaint to the government, or you could do what this residential area in the city of Harbin did: They figured out an inexpensive way to secure the manhole covers, and with that "clever move" 妙招 miàozhāo, have outwitted the thieves ...
In recent years, more than one hundred manhole covers in this neighborhood have disappeared ... According to local resident Lú Wěipíng 芦伟萍, earlier this month six had been stolen in a single night, then another three, then another two, all within a week ... The situation was becoming urgent: "Once a manhole cover has gone missing, residents returning home after dark have to be very, very careful," she said. “井盖一丢，居民傍晚出行都小心翼翼。”她说。"Jǐng gài yī diū，jūmín bàngwǎn chūxíng dōu xiǎoxīnyìyì. ”tā shuō.
[Note: the writer of this blog has a personal interest in missing manhole covers in China, having once fallen into an open manhole that had been concealed by a thin cover of cardboard ... Through the ordeal, which involved a trip to a local clinic, no one mentioned alerting authorities, suing, or fixing the problem -- but everyone involved showed genuine concern about the injuries (some stitching of a gaping wound on the shin was required) ... Many weeks after the incident, the writer noticed the manhole cover had not been replaced, but the cardboard cover had been refreshed]...
The "inventor" (发明人 fāmíng rén) of the manhole cover lock, Lǐ Dōng 李东 , happens to be the residential property manager ... Of his invention, he said he had no choice but to act “这也是无奈之举” "Zhè yě shì wúnài zhī jǔ", since replacing each manhole cover costs more than 300 RMB (about $50), and the property management had already spent more than 30,000 RMB (almost $5,000) to replace missing covers ...
As the photo shows, the solution is ingenious -- and it is relatively inexpensive; the property manager had the idea of passing a thick steel cable 钢丝绳 gāngsīshéng through the cover's airhole, and drilling into the ground to attach the cable, this method cost 10,000 RMB (about $1600) to lock more than 170 manhole covers in the area ... Note: The solution seems to be modeled on the concept of a bicycle lock
-- stealing manhole covers no doubt is more profitable than stealing bicycles, another rampant problem in China's major cities ...
"At the beginning of this month, our residential area continually was losing manhole covers, but since the property management put in the 'locks', no more covers have been stolen," Lú Wěipíng said. “月初，我们小区连连丢井盖，自从物业给上了"锁"，井盖一个都没再丢。” "Yuèchū，wǒmen xiǎoqū liánlián diū jǐng gài，zìcóng wù yè gěi shàng le"suǒ"，jǐng gài yī ge dōu méi zài diū."
She called the newspaper's hotline in the hope that the news would be spread of this "clever move" 妙招 miàozhāo ...
Source: 《新晚报》20110924 第10版， “脑筋一转 井盖上锁防盗了”
What to do when you wake up one morning and find that the manhole covers in your neighborhood have gone missing? You could suffer in silence, you could call the local police, you could write letters of complaint to the government, or you could do what this residential area in the city of Harbin did: They figured out an inexpensive way to secure the manhole covers, and with that "clever move" 妙招 miàozhāo, have outwitted the thieves ...
In recent years, more than one hundred manhole covers in this neighborhood have disappeared ... According to local resident Lú Wěipíng 芦伟萍, earlier this month six had been stolen in a single night, then another three, then another two, all within a week ... The situation was becoming urgent: "Once a manhole cover has gone missing, residents returning home after dark have to be very, very careful," she said. “井盖一丢，居民傍晚出行都小心翼翼。”她说。"Jǐng gài yī diū，jūmín bàngwǎn chūxíng dōu xiǎoxīnyìyì. ”tā shuō.
[Note: the writer of this blog has a personal interest in missing manhole covers in China, having once fallen into an open manhole that had been concealed by a thin cover of cardboard ... Through the ordeal, which involved a trip to a local clinic, no one mentioned alerting authorities, suing, or fixing the problem -- but everyone involved showed genuine concern about the injuries (some stitching of a gaping wound on the shin was required) ... Many weeks after the incident, the writer noticed the manhole cover had not been replaced, but the cardboard cover had been refreshed]...
The "inventor" (发明人 fāmíng rén) of the manhole cover lock, Lǐ Dōng 李东 , happens to be the residential property manager ... Of his invention, he said he had no choice but to act “这也是无奈之举” "Zhè yě shì wúnài zhī jǔ", since replacing each manhole cover costs more than 300 RMB (about $50), and the property management had already spent more than 30,000 RMB (almost $5,000) to replace missing covers ...
As the photo shows, the solution is ingenious -- and it is relatively inexpensive; the property manager had the idea of passing a thick steel cable 钢丝绳 gāngsīshéng through the cover's airhole, and drilling into the ground to attach the cable, this method cost 10,000 RMB (about $1600) to lock more than 170 manhole covers in the area ... Note: The solution seems to be modeled on the concept of a bicycle lock
-- stealing manhole covers no doubt is more profitable than stealing bicycles, another rampant problem in China's major cities ...
"At the beginning of this month, our residential area continually was losing manhole covers, but since the property management put in the 'locks', no more covers have been stolen," Lú Wěipíng said. “月初，我们小区连连丢井盖，自从物业给上了"锁"，井盖一个都没再丢。” "Yuèchū，wǒmen xiǎoqū liánlián diū jǐng gài，zìcóng wù yè gěi shàng le"suǒ"，jǐng gài yī ge dōu méi zài diū."
She called the newspaper's hotline in the hope that the news would be spread of this "clever move" 妙招 miàozhāo ...
Source: 《新晚报》20110924 第10版， “脑筋一转 井盖上锁防盗了”
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