At the start of last year, China announced a new revolution. A toilet revolution. The plan was to bring the country's bathroom facilities, long the butt of tourists' jokes, up to the standards of the international traveller. Tens of thousands of new public toilets were to be constructed, while old toilets would be renovated; all at a total cost billed at more than 12.5 billion yuan ($1.9 billion).

Yet the problem wasn't just the facilities: Authorities think that bathroom etiquette may need to be adjusted, with punishments meted out for bad behavior. On Wednesday, China's national tourism regulator suggested that the "toilet revolution" could see those who misbehave in public bathrooms blacklisted from the facilities.

"Many people spend a lot of time dressing themselves, but they do not spare a second to flush the toilet," Li Shihong, deputy chief of the China National Tourism Administration (NTA), was quoted as saying in China Daily. "Toilet civilization has a long way to go in China."

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Source: The Washington Post