The red armbands first made famous on the sleeves of millions of China’s Red Guards are to disappear from the streets of Beijing.

In an effort to update the image of the capital before next summer’s Olympic Games, Beijing police have decided that it is time to retire the armbands that have identified the hundreds of thousands of security volunteers that patrol the city’s streets and alleyways.

Liu Rui, an official from the southeastern Chongwen District, said: “The red armbands have been used in Beijing for decades. They should change with the times and take on a new appearance with a contemporary feel.” The volunteers — now mainly pensioners and laid-off guards and workers — will be issued with stylish Olympic badges to identify them as public security volunteers.

The design for the new badge, to be worn on the chest, has been completed but is awaiting final official approval, according to Yu Hongyuan, deputy chief of the Beijing police.

Mrs Meng, of the Dongdajie neighbourhood committee in the city’s southeastern Fengtai district, criticised the introduction of the badges, which she said would not be as easy to identify. But she recognised that the armbands, which first appeared on the arms of the radical Red Guards, who rallied to Chairman Mao’s call at the start of the Cultural Revolution, may have become an anachronism.

She said: “Maybe they want to change the armbands because they don’t look really in touch with the times. They may remind people of the Cultural Revolution.”

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