Just don't ask

Apparently, the people of Beijing are a rather forward lot, because part of the city's government is warning them against asking probing personal questions of foreign visitors during the upcoming Olympics:

"Don't ask about personal details or family background, don't ask about income or expenditures, don't ask about family assets," read posters put up by the government of the city's Dongcheng district, according to the Beijing News.

"Don't ask about age or marital status, don't ask about health problems, don't ask about where their family lives, don't ask about politics or religion and don't ask about their love life."

The "Eight don't asks" appear to be part of a wide-ranging makeover of the ancient capital aimed at presenting the best possible face to the world for the August 8-24 Olympics.

[...]

Foreigners in China are often taken aback by questions that curious Chinese themselves appear to view as harmless chit-chat.

One of the most common is when overseas visitors are asked how much money they make, a question that typically makes foreigners squirm, partly because their salaries often dwarf those of most Chinese.

Chinese also show little shame in asking a person's age and will tell someone they look "fat," which is meant as a compliment indicating that the person is leading a prosperous life.

Sounds like I need to drag my doughy ass to Beijing, where they'd mistakenly think I was some kind of bigshot.

They're apparently also trying to keep people from spitting and cutting in line and are trying to clean up the city's "ubiquitous sex industry." And here I thought they wanted to attract tourists.