Beijing cracks down on bad manners
Posted: Monday, February 12, 2007 9:27 AM
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Beijing, China
By Mark Mullen, NBC News Correspondent
On the way to an errand today, there was a nicely dressed man walking down the block in front of me who brazenly broke the law in broad daylight: he spat. It’s a four-letter practice not only common in China, but also one now being targeted by the Beijing government and volunteers in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games.
While every Olympic host city hopes for positive publicity from the games, perhaps no other city (not to mention country) in recent memory has banked on the games as an opportunity to show the world it is a sophisticated and worldly player; a global coming-out party if you will.
To sell that message, The People’s Republic wants its citizens to be on good behavior: no spitting, cutting in lines or other behavior which would not be good manners to describe.
To get out the message, China just kicked off a public civility campaign with a rally complete with a slogan chanting "We can always improve" and banners telling people: "Don't cut in line."
Mrs. Manners on the case
Is this a case of people in the world’s most populous country being somehow ruder than other nations? It's really not.
As one historian I spoke with quickly pointed out, during China's infamous "Cultural Revolution" -- the social experiment meant to rekindle revolutionary fervor which included a crackdown on intellectuals and anything that seemed "bourgeois" -- an entire generation of Chinese often went out of their way not to seem too cultured and too mannered.
So, many Chinese are learning for the first time about some positive public practices, and not just from the government. A woman named Lu Chin Meschke is China's self- described Mrs. Manners and has developed an educational organization called "The Pride Institute."
Lu, a China native who has also lived in the United States, teaches etiquette classes to willing participants. Western practices like handshakes and other greetings are among the topics. But she does have some courtesy cards that she carries and hands out when she sees public spitting and other behavior that gets her attention.
She tells me that most times, the people she politely approaches seem genuinely surprised their behavior might be considered rude. It is this reaction which bolsters her confidence that the world’s most populous nation will eventually get the message.
Although she certainly has her work cut out for her: just 1.3 billion people live in China.
