"This moment is so full of love!"

A viral video shows children sitting atop a police car and enjoying a street show while police officers stand beside them to protect them in Tangyin County, Anyang, Central China's Henan Province, on March 4, 2026. Photo: Screenshot of the video

That's how some overseas social media users captioned a recent viral video, in which some Chinese children sit casually atop a police car and enjoy a street performance while some police officers stand beside the car to protect them. The police vehicle had become an impromptu viewing platform for children. The scene warmed the hearts of many Chinese and foreign netizens.

"How could this happen?" Many netizens are asking this question on social media platforms. They say that, in some Western countries, law enforcement agencies are increasingly seen as political tools with some referring to the ruthless killing of innocent civilians by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this year, which triggered large-scale protests across the US.

Yet when asked how Chinese police could maintain such a harmonious relationship with the general public, a retired Chinese police officer surnamed Huang who had served in the force for more than 30 years simply answered, "The people's police serve the people. We stand at zero distance from the people."

Patrol officers arrest an individual after an assembly in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the US, on February 7, 2026. Photo: VCG

Sharp contrast in policing culture

The abovementioned warm scene was unfolded during a folk culture performance in Tangyin County in Anyang, Central China's Henan Province on March 4, according to a report of local media outlet Anyang Media Group (AMG).

The clip was shot by a local resident surnamed Guo. That day, there was a performance for the traditional Chinese Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month. Guo was at the scene and filmed and shared online the sight of children sitting on top of the police car to watch the show, according to the AMG.

"The police serving the public?! What a crazy concept!" an X user named Jim commented.

In response to these overseas netizens' surprise and confusion, Guo told the AMG that this is how children usually watch performances in the county, adding that "it was the same last year."

This is not the first time the warm relationship between Chinese police and citizens has touched people's hearts. Clips of warm interactions between Chinese police and citizens have occasionally sparked interest and discussion on foreign platforms.

"China has the kindest police!" reads the headline of a YouTube short video published in September 2025 that has gone viral, racking up more than 14 million views and 375,000 likes within five months.

In the clip of this video, a little boy of about six or seven stands beside several Chinese police officers and reaches out toward one officer's rifle. The on-screen English subtitles narrate: "This boy stopped police officers and started touching their rifles." "But instead of pushing him away or yelling at him, one of the officers actually pulled out his pistol and gave him the once-in-a-lifetime chance to hold it."

The video goes on to explain that the officers merely wanted to show the boy how the weapon worked. "But if something like this happened in the US, it would have looked very different," the subtitles add.

The contrast struck a chord with viewers, as more than 1,200 people from around the world left comments expressing surprise at the apparent warmth between police and civilians in China. "Typically, Chinese behavior," one user wrote.

"There are a lot of things that can only happen in China," another commented. "The cop/military-civilian relationship is unmatched, and no one from the US can understand that, because fearing them is part of our culture."

The Global Times found that the mission of US law enforcement is usually framed as cooperating with communities or working in partnership with them, rather than serving the people.

"The culture of policing is broken," criticized an opinion piece by The Atlantic in June 2020 after 46-year-old unarmed African American George Floyd was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis. "Brutality and dehumanization are deeply embedded in many departments," the article pointed out.

A police officer escorts primary school students returning to school at the entrance of a primary school in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, on February 13, 2025. Photo: VCG

Harmonious bond between Chinese police, citizens

Many factors have contributed to the close and harmonious bond between the Chinese police and citizens. Above all, this connection is a mission embedded in the very identity of the police force and enshrined in law.

According to an article on the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) website, China's police force was officially designated the "people's police" in 1950. This title encapsulates the nature of the people's democratic dictatorship, setting the people's police fundamentally apart from the old-style police.

The people's police must serve as the faithful guardians of the people. The principle vividly embodies their fundamental mission of serving the people wholeheartedly, the article said.

To further cement the close bond between the people's police and the general public, the MPS introduced a series of disciplines and rules as early as 1950, and designated one month around the end of the year or the Spring Festival as the people-friendly month for the police force, according to the article.

"People's policemen must rely on the support of the masses, keep close ties with them, listen attentively to their comments and suggestions, accept their supervision, safeguard their interests, and serve them whole-heartedly," read the Article 3 of the People's Police Law of China published on the website of the National People's Congress.

This spirit runs deep in the hearts of police officers and shines through in their everyday actions. Shi Chunxia is the captain of China's first all-female motorcycle police team in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province. Since joining the force in 2009, she has remained rooted at the grass-roots level. She and her teammates patrol the roads on motorcycles, clad in gear weighing more than 5 kilograms. Pushing stalled cars, changing tires, escorting exam-takers, transferring patients… their acts of service go on and on.

"I know full well what the flashing police lights mean to ordinary people. The trust and recognition of the people are my greatest motivation," Shi was quoted as saying in a People's Daily report.

For most Chinese people, the trust in police officers started from a young age. Instead of "fearing police," Chinese parents repeatedly tell their children, "If you're in trouble, go to the police."

This deep-rooted trust is also reinforced by daily life experiences and the police force's unwavering commitment to its original mission. For this, popular documentary series on China's video platform Bilibili titled Shou Hu Jie Fang Xi (The Guardians of Jiefangxi) provides more specific examples. The series focuses on the busy and trivial daily work of police officers at the Pozijie police station in the Jiefangxi commercial district of Changsha, capital of Central China's Hunan Province. Across its six seasons, the program shows how officers from the station are always the first to help the people, from elderly people living alone, to young people who have lost hope in life, and to children who have quarreled with their parents. Currently, there are more than 50,000 police stations across China, according to the website of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

The deeply ingrained trust in law enforcement is also leaving a lasting impression on more and more foreigners living in or visiting China. In February, ahead of the Chinese New Year, the Global Times reporter encountered Russian tourist Kseniya Popova in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, who described how local officers enthusiastically helped her track down a lost jacket.

"I went to the police station, and that was quite an experience," Popova told the Global Times, smiling. "I was shocked, actually, I wasn't expecting this to be so helpful, and everybody was so willing to help me."

Safe China in people's daily life

On a larger scale, the scene of children sitting on top of a police car symbolizes China's efforts to promote the Peaceful China Initiative to a higher level. The country has taken substantial measures to strengthen the building of a peaceful China to ensure long-lasting peace and stability and increase people's sense of fulfillment, happiness and security.

To advance the Peaceful China Initiative, the MPS has been committed to serving and safeguarding the people by strengthening community-level public security and shifting more police resources to the front lines.

In 2019, a nationwide campaign was launched to develop Fengqiao-style police stations across China's public security organs. To date, thousands of national- and provincial-level Fengqiao-style police stations have been set up at the community front lines across the country. Through door-to-door police services, officers have built close ties with the people and served them wholeheartedly, according to the MPS.

Created by people in Fengqiao, East China's Zhejiang Province, about 60 years ago, the Fengqiao model gained recognition for promoting the resolution of disputes by people at the community level, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

In 2025, the number of criminal cases filed by Chinese police declined by 12.8 percent compared to the previous year, Xinhua reported in January, citing MPS spokesperson Zhang Ming.

Serious violent crimes, abductions, as well as traditional offenses such as theft, robbery and fraud dropped by 4.7 percent, 40.7 percent, and 21.2 percent year-on-year, respectively, Zhang introduced.

"My daughter grew up in China; I have to tell her that not every country is as safe as China," Ashish Maskay, a surgeon who has lived in China for decades, told the Global Times. Maskay said that when he travels with his family to some foreign cities, he finds himself constantly warning his daughter to be careful on the street or in the subway - watch her phone and other belongings against theft or snatch-and-run incidents.

The contrast, he said, is stark. "[In China], even at one or two in the morning, if my wife comes home alone, I'm not worried at all. Because it's just so safe here."

The ordinary yet cherished moments the people enjoy would not be possible without the persistent, quiet devotion of police officers who work day in and day out. According to Zhang, 210 police officers and 142 auxiliary officers died in the line of duty across China in 2025.

To honor the dedication and contributions of the people's police, China established the Chinese People's Police Day on January 10, 2021. As a national commemorative day dedicated exclusively to the police force, it represents full official recognition of their heroic efforts, according to the MPS.

Looking back on more than 30 years in the police force, Huang was filled with emotion. "I take comfort in knowing that, like my fellow officers, I worked day and night to safeguard national stability and social order, faced vicious criminals with courage, and carried heavy burdens so that the people could live in peace and tranquility. When I look into my heart, I can say without regret that I have lived up to the name of the people's police," he told the Global Times.

If I could turn back time and choose again, I would still choose to be a people's police officer, Huang said.