New safety regulations for public places in Beijing will be implemented on April 1, and Lu Hao, vice mayor of Beijing, says that all public places important for shopping, dining, entertaining, and sports will limit their number of visitors.

According to the upcoming regulation, shopping plazas with an area of more than 10000 sqm need over 50 professional security personnel when they have sales promotions. Special discounts at stores often result in crowds of shoppers jostling to purchase limited quantities of goods.

Lu stresses that the security regulations in these public areas must be implemented and followed. The exit and emergency paths in shopping plazas and supermarkets must be equipped with lights and signs. In addition, the shopping plazas need to limit their customer numbers and cinemas will be not allowed to set up temporary seats.

In January 2007, the Beijing Municipal Work Safety Bureau and Commerce Bureau asked Watsons to secure all its stores in Beijing after finding safety issues at the Watsons Oriental Plaza outlet. The store was found to have some safety problems such as emergency exit and evacuation routes blocked by shelves during a check led by Lu, and the store was asked to make changes within twenty-four hours.