A banner declaring "Don't dump garbage here please! Otherwise your own family will die off or be hit by cars!" has sparked community outrage at a village in Wuhan in central Hubei Province.

The banner was put up by a local restaurant with the aim of persuading people from discarding dirty trash around.

The owner of the restaurant, Mrs Xiong, complained to a reporter with cnhan.com that the disgusting smell caused by the rubbish has kept away many visitors and her business has been severely hampered.

The woman said they scratched their brains in finding ways to stop people littering around. But none of their earlier methods including warnings worked. Having no other options, they chose to adopt this extreme method. The method has nevertheless worked and no litter has been dumped around ever since their banner was hoistered there.

Many other residents living nearby feel equally happy with the results the "cursing banner" has brought about. However, the language the banner used has aroused controversy among some people.

A secondary school teacher surnamed Sun said littering at random is indeed a disgusting habit, as it shows a lack of respect to one's environment and as a consequence to oneself. But using such cursing words to put an end to such uncivilized behaviors is not in itself civilized. Rather, they should resort to official help in solving the problem.

A 68-year-old man complained that though he never littered there, the eyesoring yet malicious curse on the banner makes him feel unpleasant whenever he passes by.

Many others have also expressed concerns that bad words like that will have a negative effect on people, particularly children, and hope they can be removed as soon as possible.

(CRI October 8, 2008)