Reason Number 41 - A Nation of Health Terrorists

Fault Lines On The Face Of China: 50 Reasons Why China May Never Be Great’ - Excerpt 79

"Spitting in public is an extremely common phenomenon in China, along with related health dangers such as public urination and ejection of nasal mucus by forcible expelling of breath through the nose. For example, the Shanghai Patriotic Sanitation Committee monitored spitting at ten public spots in the city. In just one of these spots, it recorded 164 people spitting in half an hour. The city government’s response to this was to impose a new regulation. ‘Spit sacks’ were attached the city’ taxis for both passengers and driver to spit into should the need arise (it is very common for taxi drivers to spit out of the window of their vehicles). 

After the pilot scheme was introduced, the Sanitation Committee monitored the same public spots again and found ‘just’ 46 people spitting in half an hour. Spit sacks, the government says, will now be attached to all taxis in the city’s fleet.

Spitting, nose picking and coughing without covering the mouth, even in crowded and congested areas such as public transport, are common among Chinese travelers, according to the Spiritual Civilization Steering Committee of the Communist Party." 

Fault Lines On The Face Of China: 50 Reasons Why China May Never Be Great’ - Excerpt 80

“Though China still has a relatively low number of AIDS sufferers (about one person per 2000), the disease is increasing fast – at 11% a year – due to widespread ignorance of the transmission of HIV. A survey in one of China’s northern provinces found that almost 60% of government officials lacked even a basic knowledge of AIDS. And along with ignorance, fear is widespread. Nationwide, about 50% of the population feel that AIDS patients have no right to work or study.

One survey among more than 400 homosexual men found that only 15% of them understood that they were at risk of contracting HIV. Another survey of more than 200 men found that only 20% used a condom, and yet another report found that 80% of gay men said they knew nothing about how HIV/AIDS was transmitted. Up until 2004 homosexuality was classified as a ‘psychiatric disorder of sexuality’ in China. 

The picture for the future looks bleak. Professor Jing Jun, a member of the AIDS Policy Center at China’s prestigious Tsinghua University, said, in April 2007, that ‘I think China is entering a stage of AIDS fatigue. Now officials are questioning how much more should be invested in the field, and some scholars working on AIDS have now transferred to other fields. … There was roughly 3 billion yuan (US$388 million) invested last year, which is 20 kilometers (12 miles) of expressway in Beijing.’”