For anyone who is unsure how to applaud at the Beijing Olympics, China's chief of etiquette has the answer: try the Olympic Four Step.

A set of hand gestures and slogans designed by the Beijing Etiquette Academy has been approved officially by the ruling Communist Party and the Beijing Games organisers.

State-run newspapers published a cartoon yesterday of a sweet-faced, doe-eyed girl in sports clothes with a bare midriff demonstrating the four recommended gestures. State television ran a special with hundreds of cheering schoolchildren showing off the moves.

The four-step will be part of a nationwide campaign deemed necessary, officials said, to encourage traditionally restrained Chinese to take part in a more high-key, extrovert show of support.

Li Ning, head of the Etiquette Academy, explained that the audience — or the cheer squads — can substitute the name of their favourite athlete or country where appropriate at each event. She told The Times: “Some of these sports - like croquet for example - are not well known in China so we want to teach Chinese people in the audience when and how to show their appreciation and support for the athletes.”

The gestures were kept simple deliberately. “We chose movements like the thumbs-up because this can be understood by people from every country and every religion. These are almost universal.”

To ensure teams of cheerleaders at the games are familiar with the four gestures, the Ministry of Education will put up posters to teach children at schools across the capital how to make the appropriate hand gestures in the proper manner. This will be aimed particularly at the 800,000 students who will be making up the live audience in many of the stands. A further 448 people have been designated as chief cheerleaders to lead audiences in the “Olympic Four Step” during the games.

State media said: “Actual training will be involved so as to spread education of how to create the cheers.”

Ms Li said that the hand gestures embodied the Olympic ideals of faster, higher, better. Importantly, she said, the movements are easy to remember, easy to learn and easy to popularise. China's Olympic organisers, accustomed to an authoritarian approach, are imposing similar rules on many aspects of the games. The girls — no males — selected to carry medals at each presentation ceremony are undergoing full-time training in just how many teeth to show when they smile (six) and how deeply they should bow (45 degrees followed by a lesser dip of 15 degrees). However, it is unclear just how many foreign visitors will be able to attend the Games.

The authorities this week issued a list of 57 “do's and dont's” for the Games, cautioning that possession of a ticket did not guarantee a visa. Those with mental health problems, sexually transmitted diseases or contagious conditions will be barred - along with prostitutes and terrorists. Visitors will be barred from visiting parts of the country that remain closed to outsiders — for example, Tibet.

Visitors may bring in pets but are forbidden to import opium. And they should know that sleeping outdoors is prohibited.