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The Launch of the Shanghai Spit Sack

Beijing's doing a lot in preparation for its 2008 Olympics: fixing up some comical English and renovating public toilets. Now another big Chinese city, Shanghai, is doing its bit in preparation for the World Expo it will hold in 2010.

Spitting is another habit that Western visitors to China find not quite to their liking, and as a result the Shanghai Patriotic Sanitation Committee (we love committee names in China) has come up with a proposal to stop, at a minimum, cab drivers from spitting out the window onto the street.

The SPSC has made a vow that:

all the 45,000 taxies in the city will carry "spitting sacks" within a year. The sacks will be distributed among taxi drivers free of charge at regular intervals, and will be attached to the riot plate that separates a driver from the passengers so that both can, if need be, spit into it.

Great to know that they haven't forgotten us, the visiting tourist passengers, and our need to share a spit with our taxi driver.

[Photo: no such nina]

Related Stories:
· Shanghai Taxis Equipped with Spit Sacks [China Daily]
· Stars Out in Beijing Bathrooms [Jaunted]
· Disability and Pregnant Lounge [Jaunted]