Sanhe city officials face consequences over signboard color bans

Officials in Sanhe city, Langfang, North China's Hebei province have been held accountable over the controversial color restrictions on shop signboards, according to an announcement by authorities on Tuesday.

The announcement was made by a joint investigation team of Langfang, whose preliminary findings have confirmed earlier media reports that local authorities had improperly enforced signboard color restrictions, banning red, blue, and black color backgrounds.

On Monday night, a People's Daily report revealing the widespread restrictions across multiple local commercial streets in Sanhe caught people's attention.

Merchants described that they received urban management notices requiring signboard modifications.

Some of those signboards were removed by related departments' personnel, while some were changed or repainted voluntarily by the shop owners.

Several shop owners posted video notices to inform customers about the changes and avoid confusion, according to the report.

The official profile of Fu Shunyi, Party secretary of Sanhe, was removed from the municipal government's website at approximately 5 pm on Tuesday, hours after Langfang authorities announced he had been removed from duty over the controversial signboard regulations.

Prior to the removal, the profile stated that Fu, a native of Changli, Qinhuangdao in Hebei province, previously served as Party secretary of Gu'an county in Langfang before being appointed as Sanhe's Party secretary in June 2024.

Local authorities have been ordered to conduct thorough rectification and learn from this incident.

The Langfang joint investigation team emphasized commitment to questioning and blaming all individuals responsible for the event in accordance with regulations and laws.

Meanwhile, measures will be implemented to establish long-term mechanisms maintaining "zero tolerance" for practices harming public interests or disrupting business environments to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of business entities and the public, the announcement said.