Uplifting and enlightened comments coming from spokespeople for the 2004 World Toilet Summit in Beijing, China, continue to inspire the urbane citizens of PoopWorld.

In a rather Zenful comment, Yu Debin, deputy director of Beijing's municipal tourism bureau, said Friday that "toilets represent the level of development of a country. They also represent a region's spiritual and material civilization."

The three-day summit starting Wednesday will attract academics, sanitation experts, toilet designers, and environmentalists from the United States, Finland, Germany, Japan, and at least fifteen other far-flung nations. Summit organizers will present a variety of topics including state-of-the-art toilet technologies and self-sustaining commodes. Modernizing sanitation conditions in Beijing is especially pressing as Chinese leaders try to spruce up their capital for the 2008 Olympics.

In China, public restrooms often are little more than putrid open trenches lacking soap, running water, toilet paper, and other basics. Western tourists have long been shocked and repulsed by open public urination by adults and children clad in "split-crotch" pants, a still-common sight in the crowded city of Beijing. But over the past three years, Beijing has spent 238 million yuan (29 million dollars) building or renovating 747 restrooms at tourist spots.

"The new toilets will have very practical designs and will meet the needs of the people," said Liang Guangsheng, deputy chairman of the Beijing Municipal Administration Commission.

"We aim to build clean, civilized, energy saving, convenient and environmentally friendly toilets," Liang said. "We also will consider the needs of the old, the young, the weak, the sick and the handicapped."

PoopReport applauds the Chinese government's progressive approach.