"There is a wide assortment of clothes to choose from, but I feel too stuffy and dizzy in the crowded malls," said Wu, 45.

City officials fear Wu is not alone in her complaints about a lack of fresh air in local public venues, such as department stores, cinemas, waiting rooms and office buildings.

"Public sites should guarantee frequent air circulation not only to provide enough oxygen, but also to dilute the pollution caused by human beings," said Qian Hua, vice director with the Shanghai Atmospheric Environmental Institute.

According to an Indoor Air Quality Standard jointly issued by the State Environmental Protection Administration and the Ministry of Health, each person should enjoy 30 cubic meters of fresh air indoors per hour.

However, most of local public venues don't meet those standards at present, said environment officials.

"Some can't even guarantee 10 cubic meters of fresh air per capita in an hour," said Qian.

The problem is that frequent air circulation is expensive, especially in winter, since it means more fresh air must be heated, pushing up electricity fees.

Employees at several older department stores said they suffer the most from the problem.

"I feel sick when the counter is jammed with customers. Sometimes I have to go out for fresh air," said a saleswoman with the Shanghai No.1 Department Store who declined to be identified.

Gu Jianhua, a spokesman for the store, stressed, "we have sufficient air intake and for many years there have been no complaints from either customers or workers."

An engineer surnamed Zhu in charge of air circulation with the Shanghai Metro Operation Co. Ltd. said the RT 1 is designed to handle 1 million customers every day, but it currently operates at half of its capacity, so there should be no ventilation problems.

However, several passengers told Shanghai Daily that when they transferred from RT 1 to RT 2, the crowded passage often left them feeling suffocated and sick.

(eastday.com January 14, 2003)