Shanghai Clears Streets of Wet Laundry

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, April 18, 2002

Shanghai Clears Streets of Wet Laundry

The east China's Shanghai has banned residents from drying washing in the streets in a new urban environmental law, the first of its kind in China.

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The east China's Shanghai has banned residents from drying washing in the streets in a new urban environmental law, the first of its kind in China.

The regulation, passed by Shanghai's legislature last year, took effect two weeks ago. It rules that residents should keep balconies, windows and roofs neat along all major streets.

Those who hang wet laundry on trees, signposts or any other public facility will be fined, it says.

For years, it has been a way of life for Shanghai residents to dry wet laundry in the sun, as the humidity prevents washing from drying for days inside.

Clothes and sheets in different sizes and colors used to line streets in Shanghai's urban areas, which Premier Zhu Rongji dubbed "flags of nations" when he served as the city's mayor in the late 1980s.

Social progress raised public awareness of environment issue

Marked social and economic progress in Shanghai over the past decade has raised public awareness of the environmental issue. Most Shanghaiers, who now enjoy a higher standard of living, have urged a ban on drying washing in public.

It undermines Shanghai's image as an international city, they said.

Officials say most residents have observed and applauded the regulation over the past fortnight. "Anyway, a better environment represents the common will of the government and the people," said Wang Ming, an official with Shanghai's urban environment and sanitation administration.

However, the ban has meant some inconvenience as wet washing can go moldy in damp rooms.

Where wet washing should be dried, then?

Shanghai's press, while urging people to obey the law, has initiated a discussion on where wet washing should be dried.

Some residents suggested that communities should allocate public airing space away from the bustling streets. This has proved successful so far in some downtown Shanghai communities.

A listener to one of Shanghai's radio stations said that schools and factories should open their capacious grounds to the public on weekends, when most people do their laundry.

Real estate developers, also inspired by the issue, have designed bigger balconies for future apartments to ensure ample sunshine for the residents -- and their wet laundry.

Meanwhile, the ban has apparently received a warm welcome from laundry shops and drier makers, "who are now expecting better business," according to the local newspapers.

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