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Green Woodpeckers swoop on Beijing
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-03-23 17:41
Wang Tao's work has subsequently won official backing. He was selected to become the representative of a state-run environmental campaign and invited to bring his volunteers to help out at the queuing days in Beijing.
The "promote queuing" campaign was launched in February and is being held on the 11th day of each month -- "11" symbolising "one after one".
The government has now hired 4,000 professional queuing inspectors to ensure people line up at public sites, in particular at bus stops and subway stations.
MIGRANT WORKERS
The inspectors, easily spotted in their light blue jackets, red sashes and handkerchief-sized flags, are retired workers or unemployed, low-income residents.
Beijing residents tend to accuse the millions of migrant workers who have flooded into the city from the provinces of having the worst manners.
"Mostly it is the migrant workers who do not queue," said Chen Yongzheng, one of the queuing inspectors.
Lan Xuejun, the Ethnic Office Director of Chaoyang District, agreed.
"Beijing has a complex population, some of whom are not aware of the manners -- especially those from outside Beijing," he said.
"We are working hard on educating the migrant workers. A moving library is travelling among the 10,000 construction sites in Chaoyang District and our night schools have trained more than 100,000 workers."
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the problem is not limited to migrant workers and Wang Daoyuan said her worst experience had been with a Beijinger.
"It was last July. We saw a middle-aged man walking in Tuanjie Lake Park, half-naked," she said. "We tried to persuade him to put his clothes on, but he kept swearing at us -- in the richest local slang."
Wang Tao admits there are some people who will never listen but the Green Woodpeckers are optimistic that the focus on the Olympics can improve behaviour.
"I think we have made progress and with the education for the Olympic Games people are more and more aware of these issues," said Wang Tao. "I believe the condition will be solved within three or five years. I'm firmly confident."
Wang Tao has no plans to disband his organisation once the spittle is removed forever from Beijing's streets.
"When the spitting problem is solved, my next step is to work on protecting the environment and saving resources."
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