BEIJING – A rural Chinese county announced Monday it had reversed a rule urging its officials to smoke a certain number of local cigarettes to boost tax income. Instead, officials will be asked to purchase zentai suits from a local manufacturer.

Officials in Gongan county in central Hubei Province were asked to smoke over 230,000 packs of locally produced cigarettes a year. Officials who smoked cigarettes produced outside the county were to be fined, according to a local newspaper report.

A notice on the Gongan government website said the rule was introduced in March as part of an effort to crack down on fake and illegal cigarette smuggling in the area, which it claimed was harming consumers and causing the government to lose revenue.

To make up the lost revenue, officials will now be required to purchase one zentai suit for each family member over the age of eighteen from the Gongan Zentai Trading Company. The company is one of the county largest employers with revenues in 2008 of USD 23,998,000. Since the economic downturn sales of the skin-tight suits to the UK, Japan France, USA, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand have dropped by more than 90 percent.

Gongan Zentai Trading Co. manufactures PVC, vinyl, spandex and lycra catsuits, as well as zentai, fetish wear, leotards and Cosplay wear. Local officials working at various government departments will not be asked to choose a particular type of suit, but must accept their duty and meet the specified quotas, according the government website.

A spokeperson for the company who asked not to be named said that, “various colors are available, in sizes from S-XXXL. If any officials would like us to make minor changes in an item’s style, we can open the eyes, mouth and face of the suit, add a removable hood, crotch zipper or tail and ears.”

Zentai suits were first developed for use in modern dance, but are now an increasingly common sight as recreational wear for both men and women at a wide variety of events ranging from Cosplay conventions to dance clubs.

The suits are used during meditation. They are said to provide a medium for body awareness, a focus for meditation via the senses by allowing for both sensory deprivation as well as sensory enhancement. They also allow the wearer to experience a sense of nakedness without being truly nude, which is handy when meditating in public places.

NASA have alos experimented with a skintight space suit (the space activity suit) to replace current air-pressurized designs.

In addition, zentai is associated with spandex fetishism. Some zentai fetishists enjoy the experience of total enclosure, while exhibitionists like the anonymity the suits provide.

That said, some enthusiasts choose zentai solely for the recreational sensory novelty or physical comfort, without any sexual connotations.

While it is too early to speculate on how much revenue will be generated by the sale of zentai, the government said it will continue to investigate the smoking habits of local government employees and discourage the smoking of counterfeit cigarettes.

China is the world’s largest tobacco market with about 2 trillion cigarettes sold every year.

Tobacco sales, the biggest source of government revenue, brought in $61 billion in the first 11 months of 2008, up 18 percent from 2007, according to the People’s Daily newspaper.

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SHANGHAI – Clicking your fingers at a waiter has been voted the most egregious first date faux pas.

The rude, attention-grabbing gesture beat drowning a dish in soya sauce before even tasting it and getting drunk at the table.

Other inappropriate acts which will ensure the first date is the last date were licking the plate clean, burping, picking teeth with fingers.

The poll of 5,000 people was conducted by Internet dating company www.matchme.com.

A spokesman for the company said, “There are basic rules of etiquette which should be adhered to when eating out – and anyone interested in building a relationship should remember them.

“The majority of respondents don’t expect much, just basic good manners from their dining companions – so burping, coughing, breaking wind and the use of obscenity are definitely off the menu.”

The study also found 59 per cent of people could not bear to see the waiter being treated badly.

Almost half of adults hated someone picking their teeth with their fingernails instead of using the toothpicks provided.

Around 44 per cent did not like watching someone nearby licking their chopstick.

And 32 per cent said someone slurping soup was “disgusting”.

Top 10 first date don’ts:

1. Clicking fingers at the waiter

2. Adding soya sauce to the meal before tasting it

3. Getting drunk

4. Licking the plate clean

5. Burping

6. Picking teeth with fingernails

7. Licking chopsticks

8. Slurping soup

9. Talking about sex or bodily functions

10. Breaking wind

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SHANGHAI – With rents soaring and operating costs at an all-time high, management at the Huaihai Street KFC decided earlier this month to lessen their financial burden by taking on a roommate, 24-year-old Wang Xufang. Manager Li Guoring said he found the fried chicken chain’s new occupant after posting a classified ad on Sina.com. The online ad reportedly offered a 100-square-foot storage room, with access to a modern restaurant-style kitchen, shared public bathroom, and spacious walk-in fridge, for RMB 1,200 a month.

Wang, who fit the qualifications of being a responsible non-smoker with no pets, replied to the notice and was quickly approved to move in following a brief interview.

“We were really excited about getting a roommate,” said Li, who claimed that the restaurant would have had to move to a cheaper location were it not for the extra rent money. “Everybody got along great with Wang at first, and it was fun to have someone new around the place. Plus, he’s got this really amazing collection of kungfu DVDs.” “Unfortunately, Wang also has a tendency to leave his clothes all over the dining room floor and walk around the kitchen in his boxers while we’re trying to cook,” Li added. “And yesterday he left his bike parked in the bathroom for 12 hours. That’s just inconsiderate.”

Since moving in, Wang has irritated several members of the KFC staff. On Monday, the new roommate refused to wash a tray of plucked poultry, claiming that he should be paid just like anyone else for his efforts. In addition, Li reportedly inconvenienced dozens of customers on Friday by throwing a family party during business hours, and letting his friend Wen crash in the walk-in fridge for three days.

The new living situation has frustrated both full-time and part-time employees, many of whom have complained about not being able to focus on their work with Wang constantly around. Head cashier Deng Fei Fei, 19, said she was forced to quit last week after Wang entered her work area on several occasions wearing nothing but a towel. Others claimed that Wang is the worst roommate they’ve ever worked with.

“One morning I came in and he had used up all the hot sauce packets without even leaving a note,” said Yu Langfang, who works the early shift at KFC. “And last week, he pretty much ate all the wings in our fridge and then said he’d get us back the next time he went shopping.”

Added Yu, “We couldn’t serve half our menu that day.”

While Wang has infuriated employees by pounding on the windows after misplacing his keys, tension between the new roommate and staff reportedly reached its breaking point Wednesday, when Wang left the front door open all night, and costly KFC property was stolen.

“Sure, it sucks when customers get angry about Wang brushing his teeth in the bathroom, or when he leaves half-eaten drumstick on the counter, but this is too much,” Li said. “They took our damn Frialator.”

For his part, Wang said he is also unhappy with the current arrangement. Calling his new living situation “fucking gross,” the 24-year-old was appalled to discover that his roommates never washed their hands, and was tired of “people stinking up his home” with their “disgusting food.”

“That smell of the fryers lingers forever,” said Wang, adding that it’d be nice if someone cooked something other than Southern fried grease every now and again. “I can still smell it on my clothes and pillow.”

In addition, Wang said he was getting tired of the steady stream of people showing up in his home at all hours of the night.

“What’s up with all these drunk losers coming over at 2 a.m.?” he said. “This place isn’t bad, but I’m totally going to bail if people aren’t more respectful around here.”

KFC management claimed that if the situation didn’t improve soon, they would call a house meeting to kick out Wang, and instead supplement their income by giving erhu lessons.

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