To improve the Chinese capital’s unpleasant public lavatories, the Beijing Municipal Commission of City Administration and Environment has introduced new regulations for public lavatories stipulating that they should contain no more than two flies.
The new rules also include standards on odour, demands for the number of pieces of discarded rubbish – no more than two – and that discarded items should not be left for more than half an hour.
The guidelines include an advisory on exactly what constitutes “discarded items”. There is also a demand for signs in both Chinese and English in the lavatories and better access for the disabled. The standard of Beijing’s lavatories was criticised during the 2008 Olympics.