:00 AEST Fri Aug 8 2008


As the young and fit do battle over the next fortnight, spare a thought for the army of retirees camped out on the streets of Beijing to monitor "odd behaviour".
Thousands of "grandma vigilantes" have taken up strategic vantage points across the city, wearing colour-coded uniforms to mark their assignments but all tasked with scrutinising passersby.
"They're all over the place," Hailey, a Beijing resident for three years, told ninemsn.
"Grannies and grandpas sitting on stools on the sidewalk, fanning themselves and keeping an eye out for 'unusual behaviour'."
It is not known how many of these retiree "capital security volunteers" are operating, but their watch is typically 8am-8pm each day, rotating in four hour shifts. And their mission is no secret:
"Mind the suspicious strangers," volunteer Li Fengqi, 65, was quoted in the China Daily as saying.
"You see one smoking guy over there is glancing this way and that, watch him, and report to the police station immediately once something is wrong."
The divvying up of tasks - those wearing white monitor street safety, where blue garb denotes traffic watchers - has won the praise of younger generations.
"They're very organised," one Beijinger told ninemsn, asking not to be named.
"It does feel safer in the city than before because there are so many volunteers out there in the streets."
It seems safe streets are also polite ones, and along with the heavily publicised bans on spitting and swearing, an edict on relating to foreigners has been circulated in the last week:
"Citizens, please be mindful that in your exchanges with Foreign Friends during the Olympic period that you:
• Should not ask about a person's income or the way they spend their money;
• Should not ask people their age;
• Should not ask people about their 'love lives' or marital status;
• Should not ask about people's health;
• Should not inquire after a person's residential address;
• Should not inquire about an individual's personal history;
• Should not ask people about their religion or politics; and,
• Should not ask a person about their profession."
That note, titled 'Eight Don't Ask Courtesy Notices', was to be posted prominently in all districts of the city, according to blogger Geremie R Barme.
But the warmth of the welcome has led some observers to debate whether foreigners are being treated with "courtesy" or simply privilege - as one visiting ninemsn reporter noted when he was in a queue for a bus and made to board first.
Tourists disappointed by the recent bans on kite flying and much live music may yet take heart. Sources say the city's supply of pirated DVDs, though largely purged by the authorities, are still flogged by the more plucky entrepreneurs - some of whom stay mobile on scooters.
Criticism of the influx of foreigners has been left to the city's expatriate population, with some bloggers taking aim at the almost 30,000 visiting journalists now buzzing around the city.
"Please oh please stop saying "Bay-zheeng," wrote Kaiser Kuo, referring to some broadcast reports.
"The pronunciation of the city's name couldn't be easier. It's just Bay-jing." Jing as in "jingle bells." It's really that easy. Jesus Christ."
Other Beijing-based reporters remarked on the stink kicked up last week when their visiting counterparts arrived and discovered they may not have "unfettered" access to the web, as reportedly promised.
"What a shocker," wrote Newsweek's Melinda Liu. "Welcome to Beijing!"
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/olympics/article.aspx?id=610784



