Foreign visitors to Beijing are often dismayed to have to dodge the phlegm spattering the paths to the Temple of Heaven — and just about everywhere else in the Chinese capital. But with the 2008 Olympics fast approaching, a new government anti-spitting campaign aims to clean up the city’s streets and manners.
Officials on Wednesday identified spitting as Beijing’s worst habit and vowed to crack down — supported by a new hi-tech police unit. They will be fighting tradition and geography. For most of Beijing’s 14-million residents, spitting is considered not only acceptable but necessary to clear the throat of the dust and grit in one of the world’s driest and most polluted cities.
But surveys show a growing number of residents find the habit unpleasant and unhygienic. ”This year we will intensify our law-enforcement efforts in this field,” said Zhang Huiguang, director of the Capital Ethics Development Office.
Anti-spitting volunteers are already handing out small ”spit bags” in which people can deposit their saliva. Zhang has given etiquette lectures at local universities. More than two-million guidebooks to good manners are being distributed, and police have launched a ”mobile command car”, equipped with a satellite link and two rotating video cameras. Costing more than $120 000, it is meant to spot spitters and present them with video evidence to back up their 50 yuan ($6) fine.
In a radio debate, some listeners said the vehicle was a waste of money. ”You don’t change habits simply through punishment,” said one. ”It’s more important to change thinking through education.”
But Beijing has waged anti-spitting campaigns before. The last time was in the 2003 Sars crisis. After a brief respite, the streets were soon spattered with the all-too-familiar sight. – Guardian Unlimited Â