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Our prestige occupation this month is Lianfang,
lian meaning joint and fang meaning defense. (This has nothing to do with the
legal profession, so please read on... we'll use small words)
So, you might
be asking, "What the heck is a joint defense if it has nothing to do with
the legal trade?"
First, I'll assume you live in a matchbox apartment
somewhere in the Beijing metropolitan area, or have at least visited one. Provided
it's high enough, and you're not arriving in a state of inebriation (drunk, in
small words) after two o'clock in the morning, you've probably used the elevator.
Er...
that is, you've probably 'ridden' the elevator... since if you tried to touch
the buttons you'd get your hand whacked with a knitting needle or worse.... See,
if you haven't experienced this, the woman (usually of mature age) sitting in
the elevator all day pressing buttons and reading newspapers is part of the Joint
Defense, or Lianfang.
Besides watching
the elevator all day and pushing people's buttons, from time to time, (national
holidays, congress meeting days, foreign ministry visiting days, national xxx
campaign days...), they are encouraged to roam around the neighborhood at night
with a flash light to ensure nothing weird is happening.
In addition, the
meaning of Lianfang can be extended to the person
responsible for helping the surplus labor workers settle down.
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