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 Beijing taxi drivers face a lifestyle makeover before the Olympics that will mean the end of spitting, smoking, weird hairstyles and dangly earrings - and the beginning of regular baths.

Under the new regulations, which came into effect on Wednesday, drivers whose cabs are smelly will be suspended for two days while they undergo "rectification and reform" guidance, the Beijing News said.

Cabbies who spit or smoke, and female taxi drivers who sport big earrings or radical hairstyles, will also be banned under rules aimed at improving the city's image ahead of next year's Olympics.

Beijing's taxi drivers, who typically earn around 1 500 yuan (about R1 300) a month, often sleep, eat and smoke in their vehicles.

Many drivers pay no attention to appearances," Yao Kuo, the head of the transportation management office, was quoted as saying. "Their mouths stink of garlic and their bodies smell, making the whole cab foul. It creates a bad impression for the taxi industry."

Yao said that outrageous dress styles were also now off limits for drivers of the 70 000 cabs on the streets of the Chinese capital.
"As a service industry, taxis have to think about appearances," Yao said."So from now on dying hair a bright red or yellow and making weird hairdos is banned."

Shi Xiangpeng, a top political advisor visiting from Hong Kong in March, complained bitterly about the odour of Beijing's taxis.
"Sometimes I could smell an unbearable stink once I got into the cab, but was afraid of being too rude to get out immediately," he was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.


"A smelly cab, though a trivial thing, may impair the country's international image when Beijing hosts the Olympic Games next year, as it's not polite to the guests," he said.