Chaoyang masses

朝阳群众 (Cháoyáng qúnzhòng): Chaoyang masses

Volunteer security patrols in Beijing. (Source: Fu Ding/China Daily)

"What the fuck is the Chaoyang masses!" cries a startled Obama. (Source: Zazheng 咋整/WeChat)

Volunteer "anti-terrorism" patrols in Beijing's Chaoyang district.

The central government launched a "people's war" on terrorism in 2014 in response to attacks in Tiananmen Square and train stations in Kunming, Guangzhou, and Urumqi. Volunteer security patrols were recruited in cities nationwide as part of the anti-terrorism effort. Hundreds of Beijing retirees signed up, earning cash rewards for information on illegal drug use and other social scourges.

Conflating the tip-offs from the volunteer "masses" and the arrest of several celebrities for drug possession in Beijing's cosmopolitan Chaoyang district, the hip state media website ThePaper.cn posted a humorous column about the "Chaoyang masses" on March 11, 2015. The article was soon deleted, but the "Chaoyang masses" caught on.