China is currently in a high-intensity full-court press trying to get its citizens to clean up their act in time for when the world spotlight swings their way with the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games next year. Targeted by the campaign is bad behavior like spitting, line jumping, littering, and bad language.

“The Olympic Games is not simply a matter of competitive sports - it is also a question of raising the quality of the people,” said Zhang Faqiang, vice-chairman of the Chinese Olympic Committee.

“We are still a way off from meeting the demands for a real civilised Olympic Games, so we will continue to do important work on this,” he told China Youth Daily.

Such important work includes banning male taxi drivers from shaving their heads and clearing beggars from the capital’s main thoroughfares.

Another strategy is something called “queuing day” on the 11th of each month, when people are encouraged to line up patiently while waiting their turns. Officials did not say why proper line behavior should be limited to only one day a month.

One other form of behavior targeted is spitting. Apparently, Beijing citizens are world-class lunger chuckers, with extra points awarded for sonic effect.

Beijing Civilisation Office recently revealed that it had spent 1,700 hours observing the spitting habits of 230,000 residents in 320 public places.

It concluded the incidence of spitting had dropped from 8.4% in 2005 to 4.9% this year. No explanation was given on how the figures were calculated.

Officials hope that “spit bags” being handed out by volunteers and fines of up to 250 RMB ($33) will help to keep Beijing’s streets relatively phlegm free. However, since China has been trying to get people to stop spitting since around 1934, it is doubtful a few spit bags, monetary fines, and slogans that appeal to national pride will be enough to do the trick this time around.

Thanks to remora