		<div class="wpcnt">
			<div class="wpa">
				<span class="wpa-about">Advertisements</span>
				<div class="u top_amp">
							<amp-ad width="300" height="265"
		 type="pubmine"
		 data-siteid="111265417"
		 data-section="2">
		</amp-ad>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div><p>Tourist authorities in China&#8217;s capital have started using facial recognition technology to limit how much toilet paper a person can take in public facilities.</p>
<p>The unusual move &#8211; part of a &#8220;toilet revolution&#8221; &#8211; is another step in China&#8217;s vast upgrading of public facilities.</p>
<p>Toilets at tourist sites, notorious for primitive conditions and nasty odours, are a special focus of the campaign, a response to a vast expansion in domestic travel and demands for better quality facilities from a more affluent public.</p>
<p>Zhan Dongmei, a researcher with the China Tourism Academy, said: <i>&#8220;Today in China, people are highly enthusiastic about tourism, and we have entered a new era of public tourism. The expectation of the public for the toilet is becoming higher.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>At Beijing&#8217;s 600-year-old Temple of Heaven, administrators recognised the need to stock public toilets with paper, a requirement for obtaining a top rating from the National Tourism Authority, but they needed to prevent patrons from taking paper away &#8211; hence the introduction of technology that dispenses a single 2ft length of paper every nine minutes after a face scan.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;People take away the paper mostly because they are worried they can&#8217;t find any when they want to use it the next time. But if we can provide it in every toilet, most people will not do it any more,&#8221;</i> Mr Zhan said.</p>
<p>Launched two years ago, the revolution calls for at least 34,000 new public toilets in Beijing and 23,000 renovated by the end of this year.</p>
<p>Authorities are also encouraging the installation of Western-style sit-down commodes rather than the more common squat toilets. Around ¥25bn (€3.4bn) has already been spent on the programme, according to the National Tourism Administration.</p>
<p>Mr Zhan said the ultimate target is &#8220;to have a sufficient amount of toilets which are clean and odourless and free to use&#8221;.</p>
<p>At Happy Valley, the largest amusement park in Beijing, around 4 million annual visitors rely on 18 toilets, each of which is assigned one or two cleaners who must make their rounds every 10 minutes on busy days.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;People come here to have fun, but if the toilets are disgusting, how can they have a good time here?&#8221;</i> said vice general manager Li Xiangyang. <i>&#8220;It is the least we should do to offer a clean and tidy environment for tourists to enjoy both the tour of the park and the experience of using our toilets.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>Going a step further, the financial hub of Shanghai opened its first gender-neutral public toilet in November to boost convenience and efficiency.</p>
<p>Mr Zhan said the toilet revolution is about 90% complete, but warned: <i>&#8220;We can&#8217;t accept the situation that a lot of investments have been made to build toilets and they turn out to be unsanitary and poorly managed.&#8221;</i></p>
			<div style="padding-bottom:15px;" class="wordads-tag" data-slot-type="belowpost">
				<div id="atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68e267ee83891">
					<script type="text/javascript">
						window.getAdSnippetCallback = function () {
							if ( false === ( window.isWatlV1 ?? false ) ) {
								// Use Aditude scripts.
								window.tudeMappings = window.tudeMappings || [];
								window.tudeMappings.push( {
									divId: 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68e267ee83891',
									format: 'belowpost',
								} );
							}
						}

						if ( document.readyState === 'loading' ) {
							document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', window.getAdSnippetCallback );
						} else {
							window.getAdSnippetCallback();
						}
					</script>
				</div>
			</div>
Discover more from London Glossy Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
