• Beijing To Improve Public Washrooms

Beijing To Improve Public Washrooms (Photo : Getty Images)

Soon, locals and tourist who need to sit longer inside Beijing’s new toilets who be able to do more using their mobile phones. That’s because 100 upcoming toilets in the capital city would have free WiFi access.

These toilets, to rise in Tongzhou and Fangshan Districts, will also feature charging facilities for mobile phone and electric vehicles as well as ATM machines, according to Ji Yang, an official with the Beijing Municipal Commission of City Administration and Environment.

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Xinhua News Agency reported that other features of the new toilets, part of the toilet revolution in Beijing over the next five years, would include baby seats next to regular toilet seats so the mother could have her hands free while answering the call of nature. The toilets do not cost cheap as each unit is worth between 50,000 and 100,000 yuan.

There would also be urinals for kids and barrier-free facilities, plus ventilation and air conditioning system, reported The Quint. That would provide a stable temperature of at least 12 degrees Celsius during winter and maximum of 30 degrees during summer, said Ji.

Ji promised to provide more details about the public toilet construction standard for Beijing when it goes into effect in October 2016. But he hinted that the benchmarks would do away with the 1:1.5 ratio between male and female toilets to prevent very long lines in women’s toiles in area heavy with tourists and shopping malls.

It is the fifth toilet revolution put in place by the capital city after previous ones in 2002, 1994, 1989 and 1965 removed pit toilets, fees for use and renovated public toilets in alley ways. The 100 would boost the 2015 ratio of 5.77 public toilets for every 10,000 people in Beijing, higher than the China average of 4 public toilets.