Spit and polish for capital's bad habits

The mayor of Beijing has launched a campaign to wipe out his citizens' bad habits before the 2008 Olympics.

Liu Qi latched on to an Internet letter sent by a Beijing resident that listed longstanding bad habits. The mayor has called for an drive towards 'spiritual civilisation'.

Spitting tops the list, followed by queue jumping, pushing on trains, jaywalking, swearing, not smiling or apologising, being more hospitable to foreigners than other Chinese, and talking too much. The list also condemns poor taxis and road signs.

'Spiritual civilisation plays an important role in the idea of 'New Beijing, Great Olympics' and in the concepts of 'Green Olympics, Technology Olympics and Culture Olympics',' Mr Liu says. 'We need to build a new image of Beijing. Although these habits are just foibles, they reflect a major flaw of our spiritual civilisation. Can you imagine hearing the famous Beijing curse during the Games?'

But Dr Victor Yuan Yue, a sociologist and leading market researcher, doubts a government campaign can kill the habits, although he agrees the Games could be used to cajole residents into changing 'uncivilised' behaviour. 'Such advocacy is not new. One sees slogans saying 'no spitting' everywhere. There are such campaigns every time there is a major event. But such habits will not go away just because the Government says so,' he says.

Dr Yuan's market research firm, Horizon, published a survey in February estimating that a quarter of the nation are spitters. But he notes that the number has declined sharply, which he attributes to social and economic progress. 'Youngsters spit significantly less than the older generation,' he says.