Chinese tourism authorities announced today that they will be building 13,000 new toilets and renovating another 9,000 at tourist sites across the country - the first step in what what they've termed a "Toilet Revolution" that will see 35,000 new lavatories constructed and 25,000 renovated over the next three years.
Li Jinzao, head of the China National Tourism Administration, kicked off the campaign by deploring the fact that "insufficient and unhygienic toilets have damaged China's national image and left tourists unhappy."
DON'T MISS: Guilin's newest toilets leave little to the imagination
Although the promise to clean up China's loos is good news for anyone with an operating digestive system, however, it's also sparked some concern online as netizens wonder whether or not "traditional" squat toilets could be on the way out - a possibility that official media has not ruled out.
Squatters are not without their defenders, however, and many voices have emerged to defend the old-style toilets. Some have argued that squatters are in fact more hygienic since they don't require intimate contact with potentially germ-ridden toilet seats. Others have pointed to the health benefits of the natural squatting fecal position, pointing to evidence that it makes elimination more easier and more complete, thus preventing "fecal stagnation," a prime factor in colon cancer.
Perhaps the most emotive argument, however, has been political rather than scientific. To some commenters, the squatter is a kind of national emblem and any attempt to remove them constitutes "worshipping foreign things and being obsequious to foreigners."
Regardless of where the evidence points to, however, one web user reminded his peers of the immutability of the national character: "Chinese just do whatever they want." Most web users said that they prefer squatters on grounds of cleanliness, not trusting fellow washroom-going to keep clean or cleaning staff to regularly sanitize facilities. "If daily disinfection were guaranteed then either would be OK," opined the most popular comment, "but otherwise who would dare to use [a Western toilet]?
Such is the preference for squatting among mainland Chinese, in fact, that even bathroom stalls at the University of Hong Kong, taking in only the most educated of mainland overachievers, has found it necessary to install reminders asking students not to climb up and squat on the toilet seats themselves.
If this really is the end of the squatter, expect to see rows of brand-new Western style toilets at scenic spots and historical sites all across China - with shoe prints on them...
[Images via Tencent]
0 User Comments