Family restrooms will make up almost a third of public toilets in downtown Shanghai next year, the city government has announced.
The facilities, to be built new or added to existing restrooms, will have space for parents and children, changing tables for infants and handrails for elderly or disabled users, according to the Shanghai Administration of Afforestation and City Appearance.
"So my husband doesn't need to worry about which bathroom to take our 4-year-old daughter," mother Liu Yuanyi said after hearing the news. "He always feels awkward going in the women's, and he is worried about letting her go in alone."
However, Cai Mengsha, 25, was less impressed and raised her security concerns. "I wouldn't feel safe," the bank clerk said. "It'll be easier for people with evil intentions to peep or even install candid devices in restrooms. "I won't go in such a restroom unless I have no alternative."
Foreign residents generally welcomed the move, although Javier Ibanez, a media worker from Spain, urged authorities to improve the overall standard. "The worst thing is, even if a restroom looks clean, the smell is usually stinky," he said.
Hongkou district's Lu Xun Park and Changfeng Park, in Putuo district, installed family toilets in 2006.
"The majority of those who come to the park for morning exercise are seniors and usually a couple comes together," said Sun, a female employee in the management office at Changfeng Park who did not want to give her full name. "The facilities help a lot because some of the elderly need their spouse's assistance when going to the restrooms."
Shanghai has more than 2,700 public toilets. The ratio of men's facilities to women's was 1-to-1.2 before the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, according to Chen Yijun, deputy director of the Shanghai City Appearance and Environmental Quality Monitoring Center. Now it is about 1-to-2, he said.
zhouwenting@chinadaily.com.cn
