In Qingdao, a smiley face means clean
Look for a smiley face where you dine.

(QINGDAO, April 12) -- Restaurant-goers in Qingdao can now judge an establishment's sanitation level from a smiley face. On Saturday morning, 18 restaurants in Qingdao became the first dining establishments to be rated by health officials using the "sanitation face" system, reported the Qingdao Morning Post.

A green "smiley face" indicates that the establishment follows excellent sanitation standards; a yellow "neutral face" indicates average sanitation standards; and a red "frown face" indicates a lack of sanitation standards.

Restaurants that receive neutral and frown faces will be given a timeframe in which to improve their sanitation levels.

Close to 800 restaurants in Qingdao's Licang District will begin displaying "sanitation faces" between May and October, and some 13,000 restaurants will wear the sanitation faces by year's end.

The "sanitation face" rating system, which was launched in June 2007, has been successfully tested in Beijing, Tianin, Hangzhou, Luoyang, Wuhan, Haikou, Sanya and Chengdu, and is currently being rolled out nationwide.