It sounds like a giant feat: Beijing residents were again reminded to stop spitting in public, according to an Associated Press report.
According to Jin Dapeng, director general of Beijing’s municipal health department – “very soon you will see action to stop spitting” .
In Hong Kong spitting incurs a fine of HKD$1500 – here I hope the government will charge a similarly proportional amount. For years now the government has been promoting public awareness campaigns but, sadly, in these societies such programs have minimum affect and what’s needed is something that strikes where it hurts : the wallet.
The article cites residents claiming “the habit is a reaction to Beijing’s dirty, dry air.”. This is true in part but an over-simplification of the problem. I know friends who were taught by their elders to lodge a loogie first thing after waking up – as a way of cleansing the throat. That was in the day before pollution was even an issue, not to mention I don’t feel the urge to launch a wad of phlegm from my mouth now that there is pollution. It doesn’t explain why Chinese people spit abroad either, in places where the air is cleaner.
Radar puts forward a few interesting theories – that “manners declined during the revolution and in the post-revolution period”, namely the Cultural Revolution. But more importantly many people do not see spitting as a problem: it is for them, as Radar puts it, “the same as breathing”. And herein lies the problem.
It is clear the government and educated wish to eradicate this habit – but the problem is so deep rooted that change will not come easy. Fines will be a good first step.
It’s worked wonders in Hong Kong.
