In my opinion, a more reasonable approach is for local industrial and commercial officers to do a better job: to strengthen supervision over local shops, to offer standard scales and to pay regular visits to the shops. When caught, these dishonest shops should be severely fined and punished. At the same time, honest merchants can be commended. If all these measures turn out to be useless, then the watchdogs should revoke their licenses in accordance with the law, instead of putting up "black shop" signboards. Who gives the industrial and commercial officers the right to humiliate shopkeepers?

Since no departments are entitled to confer Sanya the title of "black tourist city," no watchdogs are allowed to impose the "black shop" signboard on any stall or shop, even if it has dishonest records. The practice of putting up these signboards is actually a "black deed."

Li Jian (www.jxgdw. com): To publicly label a vendor as "black-hearted" is against the human-centered principle. The signboards undoubtedly announce the end of the involved shopkeepers' business. Although this tough measure can serve as an effective warning, actually, it has overemphasized the deterrence effect, while neglecting the educational role, of the law. The "black shop" signboard is undoubtedly a permanent curse. To punish bad deeds with immoral measures goes beyond the border of the law.

The practice of putting up "black shop" signboards reveals some of the flaws in China's legal system. The local bureau for industry and commerce in Sanya is itself a law enforcement department, but to hang "black shop" signboards on shops is actually a practice without any legal basis. While exposing the dishonest behavior of these shopkeepers, the bureau forgets that their own practice is also illegal. Meanwhile, instead of realizing the illegality of these measures, tourists and local shoppers are applauding the measure. All this shows that China has a long way to go to develop its legal system.

It's about credit, not shame

Zhu Jinzhong (Legal Daily): The "black shop" signboards in Sanya reflect the embarrassing situation facing China's law enforcement efforts: Laws can't impose effective deterrence while effective measures are suspected of violating laws. The local commercial watchdogs used to take tough measures to punish dishonest shopkeepers, but once the punishment is over, these recalcitrants will slip back into their bad habits of cheating tourists. Because of the first "black shop" signboard, Sanya's commercial watchdogs received no complaints during the weeklong May Day holiday. Obviously, dishonest stallholders are scared of the consequences of cheating the public. The signboard is a deterrent. However, there is no legal basis for such punishment. Some people doubt that because of the lack of legal support, this measure will not have any long-term effect.

At the same time, almost all those who have been cheated by dishonest shopkeepers support the tough punishment. They believe only such measures can deter dishonest shopkeepers from cheating tourists.

It's true that the "black shop" signboards are not very reasonable, but why have the opponents, especially scholars and experts, not put forward better measures? We cannot always depend on legal theories for the solution of real problems. As far as those dishonest shopkeepers are concerned, sometimes, only irregular means can rid them of bad habits.

Yang Jinxi (hlj.rednet.cn): By putting up "black shop" signboards, Sanya's commercial watchdog is warning consumers of being cheated by dishonest shopkeepers and preventing the merchants from committing similar bad deeds. This is a creative market regulatory method.

Moreover, all consumers hate deception by stallholders. To put up "black shop" signboards is telling people the truth. Why can't corrupt stallholders' dirty deeds be revealed to the public if they are guilty? Allowing these people to continue trading is unfair to honest vendors and consumers. The signboard is a symbol of discredit but has nothing to do with humiliation.

What are the stallholders most afraid of? It is the loss of a good reputation, as without a good reputation, they will lose customers and fail in the market place. In the month after the first "black shop" signboard was issued, no complaints from consumers were received. This is a strong proof that these signboards are very effective and they should be more widely used.

Lu Zhijian (www.qq.com): Fines prove to be useless for dishonest traders. Economic punishment can only force them to charge consumers more. Undoubtedly, to deal with such shopkeepers, the best way is to make it impossible for them to make money by cheating consumers.

Tourists will avoid "black shops" at the sight of the signboards. So with a consequence of losing customers, this method of punishment will inspire shop owners to reflect on their past practices and try to improve their customer service.

While there is no other effective method to eradicate dishonest stallholders' cheating practices, such warning measures as "black shop" signboards will act as a deterrent. I think this measure should be more extensively applied.