In recent days, a community health service center in Shanghai has been exposed for having registration windows that are too low, causing an elderly person to have to kneel on the ground in order to communicate with the staff. This scene is reminiscent of the “Ding Yizhen-style” window from the TV drama “In the Name of the People,” which has been criticized by netizens as “inhumane.”
A viral video clip shows that the registration windows at the center are designed very low, with the table height only reaching the waist level of an adult. Furthermore, there were no chairs provided for patients to use, which forced an elderly person to kneel on one knee, using their elbows to support themselves on the table in order to converse with the staff inside the window.
After the footage was exposed, it sparked strong public criticism, with netizens questioning the inhuman design of the windows, saying, “It’s just like the Ding Yizhen style that has gone on for years!” and “In the People’s Republic, people are treated as slaves.”
According to reports by “The Paper,” the implicated institution is the Fengbang Sub-center of the Jiangqiao Town Community Health Service Center in Jiading District, Shanghai. In response to the incident, officials from the Jiading District Health Commission explained that the center has been in operation since 1989, and the window sill is 84 centimeters above the ground, stating, “At that time, cash collection was required, so the window design was meant to ensure financial security.”
The staff member also claimed that citizens have no problem standing and communicating with the staff inside the windows, stating that “it may be that the person involved felt uncomfortable standing and talking through the glass, so they chose to adopt this posture.” When asked whether there would be any subsequent renovations, the staff member finally stated that they would make improvements as soon as possible.
This response once again sparked criticism from netizens, with comments like, “A bunch of excuses when a simple chair could solve the problem,” and “Ding Yizhen said the same thing.”
Public opinion in Suzhou and Zhejiang escalated, and on October 13, the Jiangqiao Town Community Health Service Center issued a public apology and announced that they had begun renovation work on the window counters that same night, with completion expected within two days.
The so-called “Ding Yizhen-style window,” also known as the “crouching-style window,” originates from the mainland anti-corruption TV drama “In the Name of the People.” In the series, the official Ding Yizhen intentionally designs the window to be extremely low, forcing people to bend down and crouch. This plot had once resonated widely with the audience.
According to “The New Yellow River,” after the broadcast of the drama, similar reports emerged across the country about various facilities like social insurance halls, police station registration windows, hospital billing counters, all having similar low designs. However, after each exposure, the local authorities immediately responded, made improvements, and the issue was quickly resolved. Unfortunately, it is disheartening to see that such windows can still be found in community health service centers today.
The report bluntly stated, “After so many years of scolding the ‘Ding Yizhen-style window,’ the fact that it continues to reappear repeatedly only indicates that the service philosophy of some units still lingers in the old mindset of ‘as long as it’s convenient for us,’ without truly making a change.”