According to a recent online survey by Extrawhite, a maker of chewing gum*, a quarter of people in China never smile or smile less than five times a day. The survey found that only 2 percent of Chinese people are willing to smile at strangers.

To reverse* this situation, a group of 40 students from Shanghai Normal University launched a team of “smiling volunteers*” last month. Their technique* is simple enough: they smile at people.

They carried out their first “smiling task” on Saturday at the Shanghai Film Art Center, where they smiled at all the visitors and asked if anyone needed any help.

“We started to prepare for this special task back in October,” said Dai Ningning, a teacher at the college who is in charge of the team.

But the team’s work is not all fun and games. “Most of our students will be teachers after they graduate. Smiling is necessary for good teachers. We hope they will learn how to smile at each other properly before they become teachers,” she said.

Dai added that she had high hopes for the team.

“The team will recruit* more members in the future. We have no special requirements* for the students who want to be members of the team. The only requirement is that they have sincere* smiles and helping hearts, and are always ready to assist* other people,” she said.

Xu Xiaohong, a first-grade postgraduate student at the university, leads the team. She said that not all students found it easy to smile all the time.

“Smiles can bring closer people who do not know each other,” she said.

(SD-Agencies)