| Abstract | Between 1993 and last year, nationwide violent crime jumped a sharp 15.6%. Robbery was up 14.9%, fraud by 26.3% and theft by 17.7%. In the free-wheeling south those figures look tame. Crime in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, next to Hong Kong, rose a dizzying 66% over that period; prostitution, gambling and drug-abuse convictions were up 92%. Against a background of loosening social controls, rampant corruption and a crisis of moral values, old constraints are crumbling. "Everything is now money-oriented with the emphasis on consumerism and entertainment," says Ngai Ngan Pun, a lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and an expert in juvenile crime. |
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