I’m not going to pretend that murder and muggings are a small consequence against modern life and living, but in China those two things are few and far between, especially as they pertain to foreigners. When it comes to public hawking of fat, phlegmy loogies and dropping trash in public places, well, us expats find it a bit offensive. Fear not, however, the campaign against them has already been launched.

If you’ve already been to China in the past five years, or if you’ve been to a less sophisticated town in the past week or so, you have at least a pretty good idea what I’m talking about. You might meet a nice, sweet, demure young lady who intrigues and entices you with her language skills and western sensibilities, only to find five minutes later that she harfs up a nasty, three ounce package of mucous and drops it on the floor between you, even if you’re in a nice restaurant or on the grounds of a well protected historic palace… Wow man, that’s nasty.

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But the government has already begun their crack down on it. It’s not a crime, precisely, it’s more of a matter of sophistication, and one that hadn’t even been considered within the PRC until ten to fifteen years ago. Now it’s largely banned, and not just because it offends us rare and seldom passing foreigners, but also because, well, it is a health concern.

Not just in restaurants but on sidewalks and in other public places, the hearty pulling with horrifically fantastic consequence is all too common in China. What the government is doing to curtail this social and health concern is wider and more sweeping than you might think. Clearly marked patrols have been deployed in major cities to issue costly citations to those committing the atrocities against social society, and the impact is as clear as it is immediate. The sidewalks are no longer slick with the phlegm of the potentially sick citizens of the town.

These patrols even offer handy little bags into which one is encouraged to spit, assuming the reflex cannot be helped. The second problem, and it’s truly the second problem by rank, is littering, which leads poorly from the bags, which are all too often found lying about willy-nilly.

It’s a step in the right direction and one which didn’t even have to be requested, which makes it all that much better. I don’t know about you, but I’d ten times rather spot a spit bag on the curb even knowing it’s laden with a dozen or so wads of bodily coagulum than simply walk all over them.