Residents take aim at bad habits

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.

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.