Xi stresses ‘toilet revolution’
More awareness of sanitation needed: expert
China should continue to upgrade the country’s toilets as part of its “toilet revolution” aimed at developing domestic tourism and improving people’s quality of life, said Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The construction of clean toilets is an important part of pushing urban and rural civilization, and more efforts should be made in both cities and rural areas to upgrade toilets, Xi said in a recent instruction on the achievements of the toilet revolution carried out in the tourism sector, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.
Along with the toilet revolution, China should construct better public facilities and services to boost the tourism industry, Xi said.
Xi has long stressed the importance of the toilet revolution in enhancing the quality of the tourism industry. Officials are urged to make consistent efforts and take tailored measures to tackle long-standing issues and correct bad habits in tourism.
Local authorities are now more aware of the important role toilets play, believing that better facilities are not only beneficial for tourism, but can also improve the environment that people work and live in, and enhance the overall level of civilization of society.
Lou Xiaoqi, executive president of the Capital Civilizational Development Foundation, a Beijing-based NGO, told the Global Times that sanitation issues play an important role in urban development and city management, and while a vital part of infrastructure, are all too easily ignored.
“The toilet revolution also closely connects to a country’s development of technology and protection of water resources,” Lou said.
While visiting rural areas, Xi asked local residents about the conditions of the toilets they used and stressed many times that clean toilets for rural residents are important for the building of a “new countryside.”
China launched the toilet revolution across the country in 2015 with the aim to make such facilities cleaner and more regulated.
Toilets in the countryside and at tourist sites have had a bad reputation. In rural areas, some toilets were little more than makeshift shelters surrounded by bunches of cornstalks, and some were open pits next to pigsties. At tourist sites, visitors were angered by insufficient toilets, unhygienic conditions and lack of sanitation workers.
By the end of October this year, China had installed or upgraded 68,000 toilets at tourist destinations, 19.3 percent more than the target.
The toilet revolution has been expanding gradually from tourist sites to cover the whole country, from cities to rural areas.
Lou has promoted a toilet revolution in Beijing since 1993.
“Now Beijing is able to keep its toilets clean, and the toilet revolution should shift to raise public awareness, provide special care to pregnant women, seniors and children, as well as prevent bacteria from spreading disease,” Lou said.
The country plans to install or upgrade another 64,000 toilets at tourist destinations from 2018 to 2020, according to an action plan released by the China National Tourism Administration.