KEY POINTS:
The drills are about to begin. With his right hand, Zhang Ran hoists s yellow flag above his head, much like a sailor directing traffic on an aircraft carrier.
He's facing 150 sales clerks sitting in tidy rows, hand-picked by their labour union to learn the approved cheers and chants for next year's Beijing Olympics. It's all good-humoured without the slightest whiff of swearing or boorish behaviour.
Nobody doubts that TV-friendly venues will glitter when the Olympics open in eight months. It's other matters that cause worry - people's manners, their knowledge of many unfamiliar sports, and the government's promise to allow more than 20,000 reporters unfettered access.
Zhao Xi, a 24-year-old Communist Youth League member, works in a nearby shopping mall, a five-minute drive from Tiananmen Square. Zhao is using an off day to work on the cheers.
"We want to do this because we are making contributions to the Olympics," Zhao said. "It's an honour."
Zhang's left hand snaps another flag and cheers erupt with military precision. "Zhongguo, Zhongguo - ha, ha, ha. Zhongguo, Zhongguo bi sheng," the crowd shouts, simultaneously beating yellow, stick-shaped batons to the rhythm. "Jia you, jia you." Rough translation: "China, China - ha, ha, ha. China, China must win. Let's go, let's go."
One of about 20 cheers approved by authorities, it's drilled a half-dozen times, orderly repetitions practiced in a meeting hall darkened by stained gray carpet squares and wood panelling. Thirty red and yellow paper lanterns dangle overhead, casting faint light on government slogans papering the walls.
Welcome to the "Beijing Civilised Workers Cheering Squad", a public-education programme to teach sportsmanship, part of a larger Olympic etiquette campaign to show off a polite, prosperous and powerful China.
"Civilisation equals order," Zhang said. "We need to express the same slogans, think the same and behave the same way. That's how we become civilised."
Chinese are ecstatic about the Olympics, though there are no guarantees of getting any of the seven million tickets available for events.
In a 2 1/2 hour session, Zhang also leads a cheer in basic English: "Come on, come on - go, go." His pupils wave yellow scarves this time, and everybody wears multicoloured vests with this in Chinese on the back: "I participate, I'm healthy, I'm happy."
"There will be foreigners attending, so we have to take this into account," says Zhang, who shared the teaching duties with Zhai Yue, deputy editor of Sports Vision, a magazine published by the Beijing Sports Bureau, the government's top sports body in the capital.
Hunched behind an office desk draped with a white sheet, Zhai lectured on China's Olympic history, which dates from 1894 when founder Pierre de Coubertin sent an invitation to the Qing Dynasty to compete. Unfamiliar with the sports, the government reportedly didn't reply.
He asks simple questions, rewarding correct answers with a thick handbook of Olympic sports and etiquette. For laughs, he shows a video in which a zealous cartoon character roams a stadium and berates fans for smoking, littering and swearing. And he repeats four major points: Don't insult former wartime enemy Japan; don't swear; respect the referee; and don't snap indiscriminate photos.
Specks of nationalism also creep in, calling 1984 "the year the humiliation ended" when China won its first Olympic gold medal. This time, China is expected to challenge the United States for the most gold medals.
"Many Chinese don't understand why they can't take photos when athletes are about to serve or hit the ball; they think it's the best moment to take the shot," Zhai said. "The most basic and most important thing we teach the fans is about when to cheer, when to snap photos and when to clap."
China has a tradition of hospitality, but some manners can seem rough by foreign standards. Historians say that's partly a fallout from the Cultural Revolution, when old-line values were discouraged.
Broad-reaching campaigns are under way to remedy littering, swearing, spitting and dirty taxis. Everyone is being encouraged to speak some English.
"When Chinese invite you to the house, they'll clean the house first," said Dr Luo Qing, who researches China's national image at Communication University of China in Beijing. "No matter how poor, guests will be treated with all the best stuff."
"We care very much about how foreigners think about this nation," she added. "We feel we have a responsibility to show this nation is rising again."
The state-run China Daily newspaper often rails against careless driving, and harps about English misspellings such as the one on a restaurant menu which offered "Hot Crap," instead of "Hot Carp."
"After the Olympics, will there be fewer people spitting or jumping ahead in line?" Zhai asks rhetorically. "Will more people respect women and children? I don't know."
"We are not going to shout profanities in front of foreigners because the Olympics is a show for foreigners," said Lui Wei, a 21-year-old spectator attending a recent Guo'an game.
"The government has told us it's not polite," Lui said. "The government wants to show a good image of the country."
- AP
