China's tourism authorities announced that the country plans to build or upgrade 250,000 public toilets in 2016, 30,000 more than last year, and will install even more next year, news portal thepaper.cn reported Sunday. [Special coverage]
The issue of public toilets is the weakest link for the development of China's tourism, said Li Jinzao, director of the China National Tourism Administration, during an interview on the sidelines of the annual two legislative sessions. According to Li, many people complain that they have trouble finding public toilets and about their poor hygiene.
"Though public toilets seem to be a small issue, it concerns every citizen and every tourist. Both domestic and foreign tourists have many complaints about our toilets," said Li, adding that a "public toilet revolution" would be carried out nationwide and would involve both urban and rural areas.
This is not the first time Li has brought up a "public toilet revolution" this year. Li hosted the 2016 conference on national "public toilet revolution" on February 16 in Central China's Hubei Province.
The conference announced that 170,000 new public toilets would be built nationwide, and 80,000 toilets would be upgraded to "A-level," meaning they would be equipped with facilities for flushing, hand-washing and special amenities for the disabled and children.
Several "toilet revolutions" have taken place nationwide in 2015 and have achieved remarkable results.
Hubei Province reportedly invested 100 million yuan ($15 million) in building and upgrading 946 public toilets for tourism in 2015.
According to Ji Yang, an official with the Beijing Municipal Commission of City Administration and Environment, in 1949, Beijing had only 500 non-flush public toilets, but now it has more than 20,000 public toilets, the most of any Chinese city.
