Beijing Bans Hairless Cab Drivers During Olympics

Beijing’s long-suffering taxi-drivers are in the cross-hairs once again — with shaved heads to be banned from the driving seat ahead of next year’s Beijing Olympics, a report said Thursday.

Just two months after the city’s transport department banned women taxi drivers from wearing “too-fancy” hairstyles, new rules will outlaw beards and shaved heads for the men, according to Beijing’s The First newspaper.

The regulations proposed by the Beijing city government’s bureau on quality standards were aimed at “giving a good impression” to customers, the paper said. They go into effect in mid-July.

Beijing’s 70,000 taxi drivers work long hours for low pay and often sleep and eat in their vehicles, leading to complaints about dirty and smelly cabs.

In April, cabbies were ordered not to eat, spit or smoke in their cars while female drivers were told to keep their hair neat, dress smartly and not wear earrings.

(中国日报)

By Sirius on 05-07-2007

« Go to post archive

This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.

Comments (2)

  1. Comment by sultan_azteca

    July 7th, 2008 at 7:59 am

    Isn’t refreshing to do exactly what you are told to do and nothing else? Just like when we were kids…

  2. Comment by betty c

    August 12th, 2008 at 11:55 am

    Why, its a well known fact that giants of commerce base their trade decisions on what kind of hairstyle the cab drivers of a region sport.

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>