SHANGHAI: Hackers who posted "provocative" and "insulting" headlines on the website of local urban management officers, known as chengguan, are being hailed by netizens.

"Thumbs up to the hackers! Everyone knows how brutal chengguan are in treating street peddlers, who are vulnerable and possibly without jobs," said netizen ff8830 at club.pchome.net.

Another netizen, kene11, even created a dictionary entry for chengguan as synonymous with gangsters, who "use violence and bully the vulnerable."