Photo: screenshot from official website of Fangchenggang municipal government
Fangchenggang in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region issued an official statement on Sunday about a recent high-profile case, clarifying that a female driver had flashed the credential of her husband-a firefighter-to force another vehicle to yield in a traffic dispute. The husband is under probe for violating working disciplinary regulations by leaving the credential in his wife's private car, which led to its unauthorized use.
The incident has drawn widespread attention on Chinese social media platforms in recent days.
According to the official statement,
multiple videos circulating online since Thursday— including clips showing a female driver displaying a credential on a rural road and a Mercedes driver flashing what appeared to be an official badge to demand right of way - have raised public concerns. Fangchenggang authorities responded immediately by setting up an investigation team to verify the facts.
After verification, at approximately 5:30 pm on July 22, a driver surnamed Li was driving a white Haval SUV on a narrow rural road in Jiangshan town, Fangcheng district, when a dispute arose with another driver surnamed Hou, who was driving a black Mercedes SUV, over right of way. After Li refused Hou's unreasonable demand to reverse, Hou took out a credential labeled "Administrative Law Enforcement" from the vehicle and displayed it to Li. A passenger in Hou's car also stated Li's surname and residential address. Dissatisfied with the response from relevant authorities after reporting the incident, Li uploaded dashcam footage to the internet on Thursday.
Investigation confirmed that the female Mercedes driver, surnamed Hou, 28, is a registered resident of a village in Jiangshan town in Fangchenggang. She works for an auto parts company (private enterprise) in Qinzhou and holds no public office. Both of her parents are villagers in Jiangshan town, according to the statement.
Inquiry to Hou and her husband found out that the credential displayed by Hou belonged to her husband who is a firefighter at a fire rescue station in Shangsi county. Hou admitted to using it to intimidate Li into yielding. The statement said Hou's actions, which caused negative social repercussions, are under police investigation.
Although her husband was not present at the scene, he violated relevant credential management regulations by failing to properly safeguard his Administrative Law Enforcement Certificate, which should have remained in his personal custody. Instead, he left the document unattended in his wife's private vehicle, enabling its misuse. This negligence led to severe negative consequences and constitutes a suspected breach of work discipline. The Fangchenggang Fire Rescue Brigade has initiated an investigation into the matter.
Regarding allegations of Hou flaunting wealth, the statement said that the Mercedes was a second-hand purchase registered under her name.
Driver Li, 33, operates a childcare business in Nanning and resides there long-term.
Regarding the alleged personal information disclosure involving driver Li, the investigation confirmed that during the traffic incident, Hou's father - a distant relative of Li's family - recognized Li and verbally disclosed his residential address to facilitate vehicle passage. An internal investigation of police databases ruled out illegal information retrieval, with no record of system queries for Li's family data since July 2025.
Concerning the July 24 police response, Li formally reported the confrontation at Jiangshan border police station, submitting written allegations of intimidation. Officers reviewed dashcam footage and, finding no physical altercation or property damage, classified the matter as a routine dispute. The handling procedure complied with operational protocols, according to the statement.
On Thursday, Hou's family reported to police that Li's online video exposure of their license plate had triggered fraudulent parking notifications nationwide via traffic platform. Officers accompanied them to Li's residence and conducted a phone negotiation regarding potential civil infringement, which concluded without agreement. The officers' conduct, though procedurally compliant, included insufficiently standardized communication. The border management corps of the public security bureau of Fangchenggang has reprimanded them, said the statement.
The statement said, this incident, initially a minor traffic dispute, escalated due to mishandling, exposing shortcomings in personnel management, public responsiveness, and conflict resolution. Fangchenggang pledged to learn from this lesson, implement comprehensive rectification, discipline violations impartially in accordance with laws and regulations, enhance staff conduct and competency, and improve legal compliance and dispute mediation.
Global Times