[2][3] Named after the Beijing district, China's capital city where they originated, the term first appeared in official reports in the 2010s, and become popular after police credited public informers with tips that led to the arrest of Charles Xue in 2013 for soliciting a sex worker.
In March 2015, police credited the group on its official Weibo account for essential information that led to a drug bust.
[4] In 2016, the Ministry of Justice and China Central Television selected the Chaoyang masses as the "Most Influential Actor for Rule of Law".
[4] By 2017, the group had established themselves as the best-known among several that ran the city's neighbourhoods, with Beijing police releasing a mobile phone app named after it for citizens to provide tip-offs.
[4][5] During an inspection of Beijing in 2017, CCP general secretary Xi Jinping spoke fondly of the group along with a similar group called Xicheng Aunties, saying in reference to their common gear when not in stealth mode, "Where there are more red armbands, there will be greater security and greater peace of mind.