Nurses learn to smile, chop-chop

– The hard-working nurses of Hospital Number 3 in the northeastern Chinese city of Handan may not often feel like smiling as they go about their work, but now they have a way to turn on the charm at will.

The nurses’ superiors at the hospital have ordered them to practise the correct way to show their pearly whites by holding a chopstick between their teeth, the Chinese equivalent of saying “cheese!”

The nurses were pictured practising ahead of “World Smile Day”, which Chinese state media said the country would celebrate today.

The use of a chopstick to create a smile is widespread in the service industry of the People’s Republic of China.

The chopstick is placed as far back as possible to push up the corners of the mouth and display the teeth. – dpa