Beijing sets 'two-fly' rule for public restrooms

BEIJING – Public restrooms in Beijing must contain no more than two flies per stall, according to a bizarre new directive issued to washroom attendants.

The Beijing Municipal Commission of City Administration and Environment issued the rule Monday as a "new standard for public toilet management," the Beijing News reported.

Xie Guomin, the official in charge of the initiative, told the newspaper that the two-fly rule was not compulsory, but was a new benchmark to improve the Chinese capital's notoriously unpleasant public restrooms.

Online critics pounced on the new initiative, questioning how officials planned to enforce it and whether inspectors would actually visit the restrooms to count the number of insects per stall.

Xie said, "We will not actually count fly numbers. The regulation is specific and quantified, but the inspection methodology will be flexible."

Click for more from Beijing News.