Beijing boasts more restrooms than any other Chinese city

[Tresbon]

Latest figures show that Beijing has more public toilets than any other city in China, with facilities no more than a five-minute walk away within the capital's fourth ring road.

According to Ji Yang, an official with the Beijing Municipal Commission of City Administration and Environment, Beijing has more than 20,000 public toilets. More specifically, there are 20 public toilets per square kilometer within the fourth ring road and a public toilet every 500 meters inside the fifth ring road.

Jiang Hong, a tourist from Anhui Province, attests to the convenience of finding a restroom in Beijing.

"I have been to many cities, where it is troublesome to find a public toilet. But public toilets can be found anywhere in Beijing. It is very convenient and they are clean."

It's been reported that Beijing will next improve the distribution of toilet facilities and rebuild public toilets in areas where residents are displaced for construction projects.

There are a sample of comments on Weibo,a Chinese equivalent of Twitter:

@ontheroad: So it's a good thing to see streets full of public toilets? Why can't it be mandatory for shops, restaurants, banks etc to open their bathrooms? If necessary, offer them some sort of compensation or subsidy. It certainly beats building one restroom after another in my book.

@chenbingwei: Beijing has set a good example, and many cities could learn a thing or two. Don't just build skyscrapers. I visited Zhengzhou last year, and it took me forever to find a restroom! In the end, I had to pay to go in somewhere and take care of my business...

@sunshinegreengarden: We always criticize those who pee and poop in public places, but honestly, if you suddenly have an overwhelming urge to answer nature's call, and you can't find a public toilet anywhere, what would you do? Poop in your own pants? So I think it's necessary to build this many restrooms. If not, people should be allowed to pee and poop in public places when they can't find a bathroom.

@kekexiye: One public toilet every 500 meters? For a city as crowded as Beijing, is that really a smart way of using public space?

 

[AndrewJin]

Judging from my own experience, best restrooms are in 4A/5A scenic sites and HSR stations, worst are in old quarters.

 

[XiangLong]

WHY IS THIS EVEN NEWS?!

 

[Keel]

This is so trivial
I wish the Mod can delete or close this thread
It is not worthy of posting for review and discussion at all!

Ancient Chinese Art of paper folding

 

[Tresbon]

WHY IS THIS EVEN NEWS?!

Because it is news. I am very happy Beijing municipal government made great efforts to have built so many public toilets for the convenience of its people，and I am also quite sure that building public restrooms is an integral part of the grand plan of building a comparatively prosperous society by 2021. I guess some other members here can’t agree with me more.

This is so trivial
I wish the Mod can delete or close this thread
It is not worthy of posting for review and discussion at all!

There are no trivial matters related to people’s everyday life. Even no less a person than a prime minister can join discussion of public toilets, why you not?

 

[XiangLong]

Because it is news. I am very happy Beijing municipal government made great efforts to have built so many public toilets for the convenience of its people，and I am also quite sure that building public restrooms is an integral part of the grand plan of building a comparatively prosperous society by 2021. I guess some other members here can’t agree with me more.


There are no trivial matters related to people’s everyday life. Even no less a person than a prime minister can join discussion of public toilets, why you not?

Ahhhh... Now I see where you're coming. But judging it purely on journalistic/news value, it has few to almost none. The campaigns of the government to gradually improve the overall standards, in this case Beijing, is indeed a noteworthy cause. But the thing here, is that the increase in public toilets only forms an aspect of the greater picture. Is every drop that falls into a bucket for example also worth mentioning?

Anyway, I now see where you're trying to come from, and I have turned around a bit from my earlier statement.