Jenny Zhu from ChinesePod has some thoughts on the Add Oil cheer I mentioned yesterday. (She also had this cute comic of the Add Oil cheer routine)

This might seem ridiculous. And many of us in China think it is. But China is used to such 鈥榚ngineering鈥�. Much like the idea of making peasants into Frenchmen in Post Revolution France, the authorities have always been concerned with the issue of 鏂囨槑/wen2 ming2/鈥檆ivilised鈥� or 鈥榩roper conduct鈥� in post 1949 China. And there is indeed a lot of 涓嶆枃鏄�/improper conduct around. Spitting, littering and flamboyantly speaking on the phone in cinema are starters. The Shanghai government even has a涓冧笉/qi1 bu4/seven don鈥檛s for its residents. Amongst them are 鈥榙on鈥檛 spit鈥� and 鈥榙on鈥檛 litter鈥�.

You can imagine how the organisers feel about those entrenched behaviours during the Olympics. Therefore, a national 鈥榖e a civilised spectator鈥� campaign/鏂囨槑瑙備紬/wen2 ming2 guan1 zhong4/ was launched. It features basic rules like 鈥檚witch off phone during the match鈥� to specific rules of the sports and how to watch and cheer appropriately.

Via JennyZhu.com