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SHANGHAI - Eager to put on its best face for foreign guests ahead of the 2010 World Expo, Shanghai is sending teams of "smiling volunteers" to the streets to teach stony-faced citizens to beam at strangers.
Forty university students have signed up to smile at people in public places, after a survey by a local chewing-gum maker showed that only 2 per cent of Chinese people smile at strangers, the China Daily said.
"We ask all the members to practise smiling at home," team-leader Xu Xiaohong said. "We smile at the mirror to determine whether our smiles are acceptable."
Attempts to generate warmth among strangers have had mixed success. In October, Beijing volunteers offering "free hugs" were detained by police for questioning.
- REUTERS
