Smile: super friendly hosts for the Olympic Games

According to local reports, athletes are not the only ones in training for this year's Olympic Games in Beijing. The organizers have started a number of campaigns to teach citizens more tourist-friendly habits, ranging from "how to line up" to "don't spit". And many volunteers who will work in the Olympic venues are learning how to smile and better serve tourist.

That's why we will find a lot of smiling faces to greet athletes and spectators at this year's Beijing Olympics.

Indeed, women are training to be Olympic hostesses, and they are practicing their best grins -- grins that their teachers say should show between six and eight teeth.

One of the hostess, Ren Chao, says smiling for hours on end is hard work. "We have to wear high heels and stand with chopsticks in our mouths, books on our heads and paper between our knees. It is absolutely tiring."

It's interesting to see that on top of their normal classes, they spend two hours each day practicing how to stand and learning the art of the smile -- along with other good manners -- to help them greet visitors to the main venues.

In fact, nine of these women have been given the honor of handing out Olympic medals to the winning athletes.

"These students all basically have a good face, relatively nice figure and their body conditions and other aspects all fit the requirements of the service industry," admits the vocational school's vice principal, Liu Wenjun.

It's really important to mention that the Beijing Olympics 2008 will be China's debut to hosting a major international sporting event like this, and it intends to welcome the world with a huge smile.