How a billion people stopped spitting
p. 47 · Read in the full issue
Indefatigable PIM cor respondent, Bill Coppell, lately returned from that other section of the Pacific region called China, paused in Hongkong long enough to spy the following item pub lished in the Hong kong Tiger Standard of May 26.
The story reports a scal able Chinese solution to an age-old problem which may offer inspiration to those in Papua New Guinea strug gling with the betel-nut prob lem. At least, it might help the unemployment problem and perhaps stem the blank ets of reddish-brown paint now threatening to cover everything currently vulner able to assault by betel-nut juice.
The story originates from the Beijing office of United Press International:
The Guangming Daily newspaper recently hailed Beijing city administration’s anti-spitting campaign as a success only days after the mass action began. The paper said its correspon dents had noticed “only a few traces of spit” duing a recent “inspection tour” along three busy Beijing shopping avenues.
“According to statistics issued by the Beijing En vironment Protection Bureau, there were 57 traces of spit in 100 square metres in Yongdingmen rail way station one day in March.
“Yet only two traces were found on May 22,” two days after Beijing launched the anti-spitting propaganda barrage and began fining violators 50 fen (about 15 Australian cents), per spit, said the paper.
It said 136,000 uniformed anti-spit squad members now patrolling the streets of Beijing discovered 80 per cent of public spitters were from out of town, and 90 per cent of these were peasants.
The paper did not indicate what percentage of the spit ters were intellectuals.
We thought about doub ting the accuracy of this story, despite its publication in a respected Hongkong daily newspaper, and then remembered a previous, similar, campaign in China when half a billion people were set simultaneously to the catching of flies. Those flies which were not caught are said to have died from the exhaustion of being con stantly chased. Against campaigns like that spitters haven’t a hope... Ed..