The score is up from a middling 65.21 in 2005, according to the study conducted by the Humanistic Olympics Studies Centre at People's University in Beijing.

Researchers found 97 per cent of residents willing to give directions to strangers this year, up 26 per cent from 2005, and said rates of spitting and cursing in public fell to less than 1 per cent during the Games.

Banners and notices hung throughout Beijing ahead of the Olympics encouraged habits like waiting in line for buses and assisting visitors to the city. -- REUTERS