Hosting the Olympics has made Beijing’s rough-edged citizens more civil, with social problems such as spitting and queue-jumping on the decline, state media reported.
A bizarre “civic index” that claims to record minute changes in Beijingers’ manners has risen to 82.68 on a scale of 100, up 10 points from last year, the China Daily reported.
Based on a post-Olympics survey of more than 13,200 people and observations at more than 300 public venues, it found just 0.75 percent of respondents “spat wherever and whenever they wanted,” down from 2.5 percent last year, it said.
PHOTO: AFP
“The most significant improvement was in the category of spitting,” the newspaper said of the latest index, devised by Beijing’s Renmin University.
Last year, in a speech marking the 12-month countdown to the Games, China’s chief Olympic organizer warned the manners of Beijing residents could leave the host nation with egg on its face.
“We must carry out a campaign for a civilized environment and thoroughly resolve spitting, dumping of garbage and other uncivilized behavior as over four billion people will be watching Beijing,” he said.
These campaigns have included making one day a month a “no queue-jumping” day, while fines for spitting have been dished out and beggars kicked off the streets.
Another day each month was designated “Seat-Giving Day” to encourage people to give up their seats on trains and buses to those in greater need.
Following the campaign, queue-jumping was down to 0.67 percent, from an earlier 1.5 percent, the index found. Littering and seat giving also apparently improved.
(AFP)
中國國營媒體報導,主辦北京奧運已使粗魯無禮的北京市民變得較文明,吐痰和插隊等社會問題也慢慢減少。
《中國日報》報導,一份特別記錄北京市民公共行為改變的「文明指數」已提昇至八十二點六八分(滿分為一百分),比去年高了十分。
報導指出,根據奧運賽後一項在三百多個公眾場合觀察、訪問了一萬三千兩百多人的調查發現,只有百分之零點七五的受訪者會「隨時隨地亂吐痰」,比去年的百分之二點五低。
報導中提到,這項由北京人民大學策劃的最新指數調查指出:「吐痰是改善幅度最大的項目。」
去年,在北京奧運倒數十二個月的一場演講中,中國奧組委主席就曾警告說,北京市民的壞習慣可能會讓主辦國顏面無光。
他說:「我們必須推行文明環境運動,徹底解決北京市民吐痰、隨手亂丟垃圾和其他不文明的行為,因為屆時將有超過四十億人看著北京。」
這一系列運動包括每個月有一天「不插隊日」、對吐痰者祭出罰款政策,及將乞丐趕出大街。
每個月還另外訂定一天「讓座日」,鼓勵民眾在火車和公車上禮讓座位給更需要的人。
該指數反映,這項文明運動讓北京市民的插隊比例,從早先的一點五個百分點,降至零點六七個百分點。亂丟垃圾和讓座方面也有顯著的改善。
(法新社�翻譯:袁星塵)
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