Spitting on streets, littering, open-air barbecues and smoking in public - these could soon be things of the past if Beijing residents get their way.

(A cartoon selected and edited from www.qianlong.com)

The city's authorities invited residents last month to list what they felt were the worst habits in daily life that led to pollution and suggest improvements, in a bid to spruce up the environment in time for next year's Olympic Games.

The Beijing environmental protection bureau said that it received close to 200,000 responses that listed the above habits as the most pressing.

Popular suggestions for improving the environment also included turning off vehicles' engines at red lights, wetting dusty streets before sweeping them and using environment-friendly appliances at home and at work.

"A city's image is reflected in its air quality," said bureau official Zhang Baosen. "Improving Beijing's air quality for the Olympics requires the combined efforts of the government and the city's 17 million residents."

Measures to improve the capital's air quality have already been taken since the start of the year.

In mid-August, about 1.3 million cars were successfully banned from the city's roads to improve air quality.

Major air pollutants including nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide were reduced by about 20 percent, a report by the China National Environmental Monitoring Center showed.

The municipal government has also taken steps for people to use public transport instead of cars by cutting the metro ticket price by more than 30 percent and giving discounts of up to 60 percent on bus tickets early this year.

Meanwhile, leading steel manufacturer Shougang Group has pledged to reduce emissions by more than 70 percent from next July to September prior to the Games.

(China Daily October 31, 2007)