Police Emblem on the Walls and Gates of Sanhe City Public Security Bureau Changed Color Temporarily

Recently, the city of Sanhe in Langfang, Hebei Province issued an order to ban the use of red, blue, and black colors on all signage throughout the city. Even the red cross symbol on hospital signs was changed to green. This decision has sparked public outrage, ultimately leading to the dismissal of key officials in Sanhe. Following this, mainland Chinese media revealed that the Chinese-style police badges on the walls and gates of the Sanhe Public Security Bureau were temporarily repainted from the mandated red and blue colors to a light gold color.

In recent days, businesses in the Yanjiao area of Sanhe have been receiving visits from urban management authorities, instructing shops with red, blue, and black signs to change their colors. These instructions were verbally communicated without any official documentation. Some signs were removed by government workers, while others were repainted or replaced by the businesses themselves. Even the red cross symbols on hospital signs were not spared from the color change, causing an uproar among the public. Of particular controversy was the alteration of the red signage of multiple Honey Snow Ice City chain restaurants in Sanhe to green. The local urban management department justified this as a requirement of city planning.

The issue of “banning red, blue, and black backgrounds on advertising signs” has been escalating over the past week in Sanhe, with reactions from the public prompting local authorities to take action.

Under mounting pressure from public opinion, on the morning of April 15th, it was officially announced that the main leader of the Sanhe City Committee had been removed from office. However, the official statement did not disclose the name of the official.

Sanhe is one of the county-level cities under the jurisdiction of Langfang City. According to the official website of the Sanhe city government, Fu Shunyi was appointed as the Secretary of the Sanhe City Committee in June 2024, serving as the main leader of the committee.

Fu Shunyi previously worked in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, and held positions such as Deputy Secretary of the Beidaihe District Committee and Deputy Secretary and District Chief of the Funing District Committee. After being transferred to Langfang in May 2020, he served as Deputy Secretary of the Gu’an County Committee, and became Secretary of the Gu’an County Committee in May 2021. After three years in Gu’an County, Fu Shunyi was appointed as the Secretary of the Sanhe City Committee in June 2024.

Top News reported on the afternoon of the 15th that following the alteration of business signs in Sanhe, there were questions raised regarding the police badges used by the Sanhe Public Security Bureau, suggesting a “change in the standard colors of the badges,” sparking further discussion.

During the period in which all signage in Sanhe was required to change colors on March 19th, the Sanhe Public Security Bureau held a ceremony to unveil their new location. Chinese netizens noticed that in the text descriptions and photos released by the bureau on that day, the Chinese-style police badges hanging on the walls and gates of the bureau, originally red, blue, and gold, were all changed to a light gold color.

According to current regulations governing the use of police badges in China, the badge design includes elements such as the national emblem, shield, Great Wall, pine branches, and ribbons, with the background color of the national emblem being red, the shield outside the national emblem being dark blue, and the Great Wall, pine branches, and ribbons being gold. A source from a local public security bureau’s political department revealed that a single-color police badge does not comply with the regulations, and they had not seen any internal regulations regarding changing the badge colors. The badges of the bureau were produced in accordance with the unified requirements of the Ministry of Public Security.

When Top News sought to interview the Sanhe Public Security Bureau on this matter, the bureau’s Political Work Publicity Office stated that journalists must present identification to conduct interviews on-site, suggesting a deliberate obstruction to interviews. Subsequently, the office of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Sanhe City Committee of the Chinese Communist Party claimed that the explanation should come from the Propaganda Department of the committee, but calls to the department went unanswered.

Law firm partner Yang Yang from Sichuan expressed that the change of the police badge at the new location of the Sanhe Public Security Bureau to a single light gold color deviated significantly from the original regulations requiring three colors, which could affect the visibility and recognition of the badges. Therefore, the actions of the Sanhe Public Security Bureau are suspected of violating the mandatory regulations on the use of badge colors.

The text and images released by the Sanhe Public Security Bureau on April 14th have already been deleted. However, photos taken by local residents on the same afternoon showed that the two badges at the bureau, which had been changed to light gold, had been reverted to their original colors.