[1][2][3] Numerous incidents have occurred over the years involving Chengguan seriously wounding innocents and even beating people to death in public.

This de facto para-police bureau, equipped with steel helmets and stab-proof vests, is often used by local officials as trouble shooters".

[6] In general the Chengguan serve as a civil agency employed by cities across China "to tackle low-level illegal behaviors".

The public widely dislike the Chengguan due to their abuses of power,[6] as highlighted in their involvement in several high-profile cases.

[citation needed] A 2012 report by Human Rights Watch documents Chengguan abuses, "including assaults on suspected administrative law violators, some of which lead to serious injury or death, illegal detention, and unlawful forceful confiscation of property".

", a phrase often shouted out by illegal street vendors to warn others to run away in case of a Chengguan inspection, has become a famous Chinese Internet punch line.

There are also satirical jokes of the Chengguan actually being China's secret strategic reserves, the "fifth branch of the PLA", because of their capability to cause "mass destruction".