By Dong Hui

People can vote online to choose among 55 designs for public toilets at the 2010 Expo, said the Shanghai Public Sanitation Bureau.

Internet users can visit www.toiletweb.cn/vote, to decide the 10 best public toilet designs before the end of August.

The toilet designs, 51 for open-air pavilions and four for indoor pavilions, were collected from residents in the past two months.

Most embrace energy-saving technology, while others feature extra space for disabled people and rooms for mothers with children.

The top 10 designs chosen by public vote will be passed to Expo designers. The top prize will be 10,000 yuan (US$1,459) in cash.

The most popular design so far is one that combines Chinese traditional architecture with solar energy, bureau officials said.

About 6,150 toilets in the 5.28 square kilometers of the World Expo area will cope with about 600,000 visitors a day. There will be about 5,000 toilets for women, more than four times the number for men.

(Shanghai Daily July 7, 2008)