The city of Shanghai will provide free Internet access to about 3.76 million migrant workers, so they can learn to improve their manners online as part of Shanghai's "A Million Workers Learning Etiquette" campaign.

The campaign is aimed at improving manners in the city ahead of the 2010 World Expo.

Migrants account for just under 40 percent of the 9.5 million workers in the city.

A recent survey conducted by a local university showed migrant workers are generally poorly educated but are eager to learn new things.

Migrant workers will be able to pick up a card from their neighborhood committee that allows them free access to Internet cafes. The cafes are expected to teach the migrants how to surf online, and how they can use the Internet to learn about etiquette.

The city currently has 120 such cafes and expects to have 600 Internet bars by the time the World Expo opens, according to Wang Lanjie, vice president of the Shanghai Trade Union, which is sponsoring the project.

The union didn't explain how exactly migrants are supposed to improve their manners by surfing the Web, or how the city will ensure the free Internet access is used for learning instead of playing games.

Wang said the union will help set up other training opportunities for migrant workers in the near future.

(Shanghai Daily March 14, 2006)