Beijing, May 11 (Xinhua) Beijing is to standardise the city's toilet direction plates ahead of the Olympic Games, according to Beijing Youth Daily. The plates, already in use in some places, feature white male and female characters on a blue background, the paper quoted officials with the city government.

Beijing, with 5,174 public toilets, has outpaced New York, London and Tokyo and become the world's No. 1 metropolis as far as public toilets are concerned. The Olympic Games will be held Aug 8-24.