Special report:   2008 Olympic Games

    BEIJING, Feb 7. (Xinhua) -- With more than five months to go until the Olympics, Beijing residents are making progress with their etiquette, as indicated by a "city index."

    A survey released by Renmin University found that in 2007, 2.54percent of people still spat in public, down by 2.36 percentage points from 2006.

    Over the past three years, the poll surveyed more than 10,000 local residents and 1,000 foreigners who had lived in Beijing for more than two years. It also gathered 3,000-hour observations from300,000 people at 320 public venues and 200,000 automobiles.

    The survey found that the occurrence of littering in public had dropped from 5.3 percent in 2006 to 2.86 percent in 2007 and queue-jumping dropped from 6 percent to 1.5 percent.

    The "civic index" of Beijingers, calculated using several parameters, was 73.38 in 2007, up from 65.21 and 69.06 in 2005 and2006, respectively. The index reflects compliance with rules involving public health and public order, attitudes towards strangers, etiquette at sports events and a willingness to contribute to the Olympic Games.

    However, the "civic index" still fell short of the standard required for the 2008 Olympics, according to Sha Lianxiang, a sociology professor at Renmin University. The standard is said to be 80 points.

    Beijing expects to receive 550,000 foreign tourists during the Olympics and an estimated 2 million domestic tourists will also visit.