China looking to halt spitting on sidewalks, public belching

[kurth]

Bad manners send Beijing scrambling before Olympics
Nation looking to halt spitting on sidewalks, public belching
By CRAIG SIMONS
Cox News Service

BEIJING - Smoke-filled taxis, unflappable line cutters, and spit-strewn sidewalks: When it comes to China, the list of things that perplex and infuriate visitors and locals is long. Public belching, pushing in crowds and talking loudly in movie theaters are too common, said Liao Fei, a researcher tasked with determining how to improve manners in Beijing before the 2008 Olympics...

"If we don't change our habits before 2008 the world will look down on China," said Zhou Shiji, the Beijing author of Doing Instead of Knowing. The book "teaches people how to establish good habits," he said. "Many Chinese know that their habits are bad, but they don't change because everyone else is doing the same things," he said.

Spitting in public is common on the streets of any Chinese city. Last month, Beijing officials launched a campaign to change that practice. Volunteers wearing uniforms emblazoned with the Chinese character for "mucus" will hand out millions of "spit bags" to encourage "civilized spitting," said Zhang Huiguang, director of Beijing's Capital Ethical and Cultural Development Office...

Beijing also has employed 1,500 "civilized bus-riding" supervisors to discourage crowding and fighting at bus stops, the official Xinhua news agency reported. One top grievance is line cutting, a common occurrence in China. A blogger using the screen name BJ Gemer related dropping his wallet while waiting in line at a fast-food restaurant in Shanghai. "When I bent down to pick it up, a woman pushed in line behind me, leaned on my back and ordered an ice cream cone over my head ... and nobody in line said ANYTHING to her!" the post reads. After he realized what had happened he took the delivered ice cream cone and held it until he had gotten his food.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3828644.html

[rodeodance]

1. The US pased similar laws in early 1900's (only 100 yrs ago).

[etherealtruth]

3. I "kinda" wish there would be some enforcement today

[NewJeffCT]

2. I've heard stories of the bus & train queues there

and, I hope nobody that goes there for the Olympics are surprised by pushy service from the waitstaff at restaurants - even restaurants as big as multi-story hotels.

[CountAllVotes]

4. I remember the "spittoons" Chinese restaurants

It was GROSS! This was c. 1960 in San Francisco's Chinatown.

The reason for the spittoons is because at one time, many of the Chinese that lived in San Francisco had TB (there was a huge epidemic of it from abt. 1860 -1940+ or so). I suspect that many of the people in the restaurants had TB as well, hence the need for spittoons.

I remember "dining" in a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown in San Francisco with my family as a child and I remember those spittoons! :puke: It pretty much killed what appetite I had, I remember that much!

I hope they do outlaw it for many reasons. It is very gross, disgusting, and a great way to spread disease.

:dem: :kick:

[Yupster]

5. On a personal note,

I have a chance to go to China this summer, or I can choose the Canadian Rockies.

It's a chance of a lifetime, but we're worried about the long plane flight and maybe not up to standard US accomadations.

Has anyone been to Beijing recently who can offer an opinion. I would go with wife and pre-teen kid.