“At first, some government departments found these elderly people annoying,” says the head of Danjiang County’s Industrial and Commercial administration. “But nowadays they are the privileged guests of the county’s top officials,” reports the Chongqing Morning Post. The group – the Grandpa Rights-Protection Team – has an average age above 70, but having decided retirement was boring it opted to fight for consumer rights. The founder, Pi Zhixian, 83, says the team has resolved 1,230 disputes since 2001 and retrieved nearly Rmb50 million on behalf of wronged consumers. Their target this year? “Currently several of the members are investigating salt prices in nearby counties and ‘spying’ on food quality in school canteens,” confides Pi. “The operation of school canteens and shops are not transparent, and they usually sell old rice and uncertified meat at high prices.”
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