[lit-ideas] The right ways to spit and the right way to sit
- From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2006 05:24:37 EST
I once had the ridiculous notion that my Mother was rather anal-retentive,
as they used to say....
this is a whole new ..level.....("you keep the toe of your raised foot
pointing downward"? "We will work with newspapers, radio stations, TV
stations,
the Internet and mobile telephone carriers to teach people the right way to
spit,"???). (I swear, this did not come from the Onion.)
_http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060301/ap_on_re_as/china_decency_drive;_ylt=Aitu
KaOKmL1IP1LOfG3MWkYDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl_
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060301/ap_on_re_as/china_decency_drive;_ylt=AituKaOKmL1IP1LOfG
3MWkYDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl)
Beijingers Being Taught to Mind Manners
By DEAN VISSER, Associated Press Writer Wed Mar 1, 5:06 PM ET
BEIJING - The government is teaching citizens "the right way to spit." A
college is showing students the right way to sit. Two years ahead of hosting
the
_Olympic Games_ (http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=Olympic+Games)
, people across Beijing are on an all-out drive to mind their manners.
China's hard, gray, briskly communist capital has a reputation for
brusqueness. Visitors are often startled to see its people spit onto the
crowded
pavement.
Changing all that ahead of the 2008 Summer Games is "crucial in providing a
cultural and historical legacy to the world" for China, said Beijing city
official Zhang Huiguang.
"We will work with newspapers, radio stations, TV stations, the Internet and
mobile telephone carriers to teach people the right way to spit," said Zhang,
director of Beijing's Capital Ethical and Cultural Development Office.
Zhang said her office is running a "behavioral training" campaign that also
includes lining up properly for buses and turning off mobile phones during
meetings.
But spitting is the No. 1 issue, she said at a news conference Wednesday.
"You have to spit into a tissue or a bag, and then put it into a dustbin to
complete the process," she said.
Zhang said her office has organized a small army of volunteers who are
hitting Beijing's streets to hand out "spit bags," wearing bright orange
uniforms
with the Chinese character for "mucus" emblazoned in yellow on the back.
Public spitters already face fines up to $6, but "this year ... we will
require law enforcement officials to step up the frequency" of penalties, Zhang
said.
Others are taking a softer approach.
Lu-chin Mischke was born near Beijing, married an American and spent 10 years
in the U.S. She said her heart sank when she and her family returned to live
in her homeland and she saw the rampant spitting, littering and cutting in
line.
It prompted her to start the Pride Institute, a private group that runs
seminars aimed at demonstrating the delights of being more polite.
"I'm trying to wake up a sense of decency," Mischke said. "I know it's
there."
She said hundreds of people sometimes crowd the talks at community centers,
schools and businesses.
"I saw our beautiful scenery covered with plastic bags," she said. "Sometimes
I think I'm the first one to see this littering and say, 'Why do you treat
our country like a garbage can?'"
"Many of them never really thought of it that way," she said.
The nearing of the Olympics is starting to raise awareness of the problem,
she said.
"Chinese feel it's an acknowledgment by the world," she said. "They feel like
it's not a backwater any more. It's on the world stage."
China has always been sensitive about foreign â especially Western â
criticism of its ways. But Mischke said what she's trying to teach is
universal.
"It's not like I'm inventing any problems for China," she said. "Most people
hate these things, this bad behavior. I'm just trying to wake them up and
show them they can stop."
"All of China is looking forward to the Olympics," noted Zhang Hui, head of
training at the Beijing Courtesy College, a finishing school for young adults
who want to study decorum, usually before taking their first major jobs.
"It's really important to improve courtesy" ahead of the Games, Zhang said.
She believes in doing this the old-fashioned way.
"Everyone knows how to walk, stand and sit," she said. "But we teach them how
to do it in a standard way."
That means sitting, back straight, on the "front one-third" of a chair, she
said, primly demonstrating. "Women sit with their knees and feet together. Men
may sit with their feet slightly apart. If you cross your legs, you keep the
toe of your raised foot pointing downward."
"Every day we teach the students about Confucius and Laozi," Zhang said,
referring to the Chinese philosophers who lived some 2,500 years ago and are
credited with shaping values associated with China â discipline and not
rocking
the boat.
"Every country has a basis for its culture," she said. "Confucius and Laozi
are our country's basis."
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