I’ve recently been struck by the effectiveness of a subtle yet substantial change in personnel at the gates of my apartment complex. Starting the beginning of this September, young ladies dressed in neatly starched uniforms (sky-blue blouses, dark blue skirts, nylons and black pumps, if you really must know) have been stationed at the gates to the compounds. Previously, young men with 25-inch waists dressed in Smokey-the-Bear uniforms had been solely yet with some gravitas directing traffic past the wooden barriers.

Chinese drivers, though, aren’t very much impressed by gravitas, no matter how slim the waist – or perhaps because the waist is so narrow, and belongs to a male. Drivers would still block the entrances awaiting or disgorging passengers; horns would still honk at the slightest obstruction – in front of the “No Honking Allowed” signs; itinerant workers would still line up at the pedestrian entrances and argue with the no-waist guards to be allowed entrance to the compound so they could disrupt the sleep of the dead with their jack hammers and dentist drills.

Put the slim waist on a young, uniformed lady, and, oh my, how charming men can be. Now, all the gates in the complex are small islands of tranquility and serenity. Young, attractive, smart-looking women in pill-box hats give drivers with ear-to-ear grins a competent nod to pass through and use their own pass keys to permit residents into the courtyards. The cars don’t honk (as much) any longer – at least those with male drivers. And the male guards are less brusque and more polite; that is, when they are not all eyes for their new comrades. A British friend who lives in the same warren of apartment buildings noticed the same civilizing effect at the gate houses; he says he’s even tried to be charming now when he drives past the Sirens.

It remains to be seen whether this is just an experiment, meant to give the appearance of civility in a rambunctious corner of the world in the run-up to the Communist Party’s 60th birthday party come October 1st; or whether it is a permanent fixture.

I hope it’s permanent.