Beijing to clean up toilets in bid for Olympics

December 4, 2000
Web posted at: 12:29 PM HKT (0429 GMT)

BEIJING (Reuters) -- Beijing has decided to bring its public toilets up to Olympic gold standards in its pursuit of the 2008 Games, the China Daily said on Monday.

The toilets will be given one to four stars, the newspaper said.

"For example, four-star toilets should have granite floors, sufficient lighting, lively music, facilities to wash hands, tissues, automatic flush, hand dryers and bathrooms specially designed for disabled and old people," it said.

Beijing is one the of final candidates to host the 2008 Games, competing against Paris, Osaka, Istanbul and Toronto.

"However, it still lags far behind other cities in terms of its public toilets," said the paper, which did not say what facilities the one to three star toilets would have.

It said the city government had given itself two years to complete the Herculean task of cleaning up its often dirty, cramped and squat-style toilets following a deluge of complaints.

The Beijing Consumers' Association received a large number of complaints about the state of the city's toilets during October's National Day holiday, the newspaper said.

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