Dalian, a tourist city in northeast China's Liaoning Province, is listening to the complaints of visitors, and establishing a star rating system for its public toilets.

The unusual step was prompted by tourists complaining of the scarcity, poor quality and poor sanitation of public rest rooms, said Gao Qing, director of planning section of the local tourism department.

City managers picked out 85 public rest rooms in tourism spots for the scheme, the first city in China to do so.

The rest rooms include two five-stars, 13 four-stars, 44 three-stars and 26 two and one star facilities. Another 15 rest rooms are still waiting for the assessment.

The normally revolting state of public rest rooms is a problem all over China, and a major cause of tourist complaints in a country that is trying to meet Western standards of sanitation, especially in the important tourism industry.

To improve Dalian's image, the local government has asked tourism managers to equip public toilets with flush facilities or ecologically water-free facilities this year.

In the next three years, the city will build or rebuild 300 star-level rest rooms or 100 each year.

Currently, most rest rooms in tourist spots do not charge, but after the assessment, star-level facilities will charge a sum ranging from 0.5 yuan to one yuan, said Gao. He explained that most of these star-level rest rooms are privately owned. 

(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2003)