China: Cabbies told to make sure cabs don't smell

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Beijing taxi drivers should stop eating and sleeping in their cabs as the smells they make could tarnish the city's image during the 2008 Olympic Games, a political adviser was quoted Sunday as saying by state media. About one-third of the taxis in Beijing were smelly, Shi Xiangpeng, a Hong Kong representative at the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying. "Sometimes I could smell an unbearable stink once I got into the cab, but was afraid of being too rude to get off immediately. So I had to roll down the windows, regardless of how cold it was outside," Shi said. He told Xinhua the odors were a result of the bad habits of drivers from the suburbs of Beijing who, because they live far from the downtown area, sometimes sleep and eat meals in their cars.