Cui Wentao,a worker with Beijing's Bureau of Environment Protection,yesterday took the fee notice off the wall of a public toilet east of Tian'anmen Square.
Starting today,all of Beijing's 480 public toilets will be free to the public.That will put an end to the city's history of charging a fee at the public toilets.
"The fee notice has been hanging there for more than 20 years,"said Cui.Early in the morning he removed the "Charge 0.3 yuan"sign at the W.C.and replaced it with a "Charge Free"sign.
He said he received the notice two days before from the environment bureau that Beijing will have free public toilets.To his surprise,W.C.tickets have become a new collectors'item for the city's nostalgists.
"Last afternoon,three people come to the toilet and each bought 10tickets,"Cui said.
"One of them,a man in his fifties,said he will keep the tickets as a souvenir.""And another buyer,a young man,said he will show the tickets to his unborn son as part of the city's development history."
More than 60W.C.s at Beijing's subway stations were free yesterday to the public,a day in advance of the new rules,according to the Beijing Youth Daily.
The 100-plus ticket sellers at the toilets have new jobs.
( eastday.com March 2, 2002)
