The four "new pests"

Friend Skip sent an email asking about the evolution of habits here from when he made a trip back in the early '90s, and I thought the reality was amusing enough to post the response to the blog.  He asks:

I’d love to hear if they have made any improvements on lining up for things e.g. elevators, trains, ticket booths, etc.  My experience was that they simply didn’t have a Western concept of “the line” (or “the queue”).  I was continually stunned at the crowding forward technique (for gods sake people, how do you expect them to get off the elevator if you start shoving in the moment the doors open?)

Answer:  not really.  The government is trying hard to spread the message though, which is funny in and of itself.  Here's one party-line version of their efforts, which I cribbed from a Chinese embassy website:

"Promoting civilized behavior among Chinese travelers and residents is a long-term task. For the Games, we need to focus our resources on the main problems," Zhang [the director of Beijing's Capital Ethics Development Office -- think of it as the "ministry of manners"] says, citing spitting, queue-jumping, swearing and smoking as the four "new pests" against the "four pests" of rats, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows during Mao's era. One measure to "eliminate the four new pests" is the "promote queuing" campaign, which was launched in February 2007, and is held on the 11th day of each month as "11" has come to symbolize "one after one". Uniformed queuing inspectors, waving flags, appear at bus stops and subway stations on "queuing day" to ensure people line up. The traditional swarming mobs at the doors of trains and buses are less common these days.

Lauren and I visited Shanghai together for the first time in the first two weeks of May 2007, and there was one day when we saw the bizarre sight of a group of people actually lined up waiting for the bus.  Then I remembered it was the 11th, and it all made sense.  But of course, no sign of any lines anywhere else on that trip -- just the incessant crush of people...