Fashion police at the Beijing Olympics have ordered men to steer clear of white socks with black shoes and advised women to shun leather skirts.
Residents of the city should also shirk embarrassing public displays of affection and fighting over who settles the bill after dinner and avoic garlic.
Rules produced by Chinese officials on what to wear and how to behave stretch out over 36 pages in official booklets and cover nine web pages. They go from general tips, like combing hair appropriately for age to minutiae details such as women with thick ankles wearing darker stockings to disguise their imperfections.
Women get specific fashion advice to avoid common fashion faux-pas, such as matching the length of their skirt to their age and not wearing more than three colours in their oufit. Men on the other hand seem to get more basic advice, including not sporting pyjamas in public, not going out with a bare chest and not rolling up their trouser legs.
While some style recommendations do not need explanations - fat people should avoid horizontal stripes - other tips have their reasoning spelt out: "Clothes should not be too small, otherwise this makes people feel you are unreliable" .
The how-to in the style stakes has been handed out by the Capital Spiritual Civilisation Construction Commission. Beijing will be under the spotlight during the Olympic Games and the Commission are keen that the city's 15 million residents dress and act impeccably.
Authorities say that campaigns in the past to improve the city's behaviour, including stopping people spitting in public and learning how to queue properly, have been successful.
Rules are also already in place to try to control taxi drivers' bad breath. They have been ordered to cut down on their garlic consumption and watch what they eat for breakfast.
Zheng Mojie, deputy director of the commission, said: "The level of civility of the whole city has improved and a sound cultural and social environment has been assured for the success of the Olympic Games."
The campaign involves nearly a million volunteers giving etiquette tips in schools, universities and government offices. Some university students have been encouraged to educate rural villagers about the new code of conduct.
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