CHINA: China's President Hu Jintao has decided that the only way to combat the eight pernicious "disgraces" creeping into society is for the masses to learn a "socialist sense of honour and shame".
The eight socialist honours are unambiguous and fiercely patriotic: Love the motherland. Serve the people. Be united. Struggle hard. Work hard. Advocate science. Be disciplined. Obey the law.
President Hu launched the campaign at this month's National People's Congress to encourage greater moral fibre and transform the masses into good citizens ahead of the 2008 Olympics.
This weekend, the campaign hit the streets of China's cities and towns and cadres were out in force, offering tutorials in virtue - obeying the law, protecting trees and cleaning up dog droppings.
In Beijing, the Wangfujing shopping thoroughfare became a venue for an award ceremony for those truly infused with a "socialist sense of honour".
To the tune of the theme from The Magnificent Seven, which begs the question which of the eight socialist honours was being left out, cadres honoured ten model residents, among them Li Zhenhuan, who has been giving free haircuts to residents for over 35 years.
The new moral climate was evident during a showing of the Mandarin version of The Playboy of the Western World, put on by Ireland's Pan Pan Theatre group, when police officers came to make sure that skirts were long enough and did not offend, following complaints. Apparently the officials left before the offending scene but were happy that the mini-skirted Pegeen Mike was within the realms of decency.
Burgeoning wealth and the rise of flagrant consumerism in the world's fastest growing economy has seen many traditional Chinese values of honour and decency slip away in favour of self-serving, money-grabbing behaviour, the leadership believes.
In the old days, these campaigns would have been trumpeted on luridly-coloured posters. Mr Hu's aphorisms, however, were printed on a plain poster with Chinese characters above a photograph of the Great Wall and this handbill has been on display in offices and shops.
For most people in China, the focus of socialist disgrace is still corrupt local officials taking bribes and creaming off cash from provincial coffers and there were fresh reports of jailings of local cadres on the take at the weekend.
Mr Hu's statements all have the ring of good, old-fashioned Cold-War era communism, but his message is a far cry from the more belligerent tone of founding communist leader Mao Zedong, who famously declared: "Political power comes out of the barrel of a gun."
Big eight: virtues and vices
The eight honours and disgraces under President Hu Jintao's new plan to foster an improved morality in China:
To persist in loving the motherland is an honour. To harm the motherland is a disgrace.
Serve the people. To deviate from the people is a disgrace.
To advocate science is an honour, but to be stupid and ignorant is a disgrace.
It's an honour to work hard; to be lazy and love leisure too much is a disgrace.
Be united and help each other; don't profit at the expense of others.
Be honest and trustworthy, not profit-mongering at the expense of your values.
To be disciplined and law-abiding is an honour. To violate the law and show a lack of discipline is a disgrace.
Live plainly and struggle hard, do not wallow in luxuries and pleasures.
