Umbrellas are in but crossbows, banners and nudity are out, while babies are frowned upon and lip-gloss will be limited.

Organisers of the Beijing Olympics released their “Spectators' House Rules” today together with the launch of a “Good Habit for a Good Games” campaign — the latest step in a bid to ensure that the event proceeds without anything that could embarrass its Chinese hosts.

Nervous in case visitors try to use the games to make political statements, the authorities are prohibiting all banners larger than 2m by 1m and said that these would be checked at the entrance. The same rules apply to flags, with a ban on those of non-participating members of the Olympics — believed to be aimed at any attempt by demonstrators to unfurl the “snow lion” flag of Tibet, which is banned in China.

The island of Taiwan — participating as Chinese Taipei and under a special Olympic flag — will also be off limits.

Those breaching the rules, which also ban gambling, sit-ins, demonstrations, drunkenness and streaking, would be dealt with according to the level of their transgressions.

Huang Keying, deputy director of the spectator services division at the Beijing Organising Committee, said: “Different cases will be handled by different departments following relevant rules or laws. We have specially trained staff who will communicate with spectators.”

Lip-gloss, fountain pens and sunscreen will be allowed but only in small quantities. Animals, other than guide dogs, are prohibited. Parents will be encouraged not to bring babies. And the “f-word”, commonly heard on the streets of Beijing, will be most definitely forbidden.

Umbrellas, at least those with short handles, will be allowed in a break from the rules that excluded them from the previous Olympics in Athens.

Ms Huang said: “In foreign countries people like to sunbathe, but in Beijing we prefer to avoid the sunlight. So we will allow people to bring collapsible umbrellas as long as they don’t put them up in the stands.”