Public Toilets in Beijing

[roddy]

From an otherwise irrelevant article in the UK's Guardian, this about the quality of public toilets in Beijing.

But Richard Chiswell, the indefatigable sixtysomething director of the BTA [british Toilet Association], thinks technological advances can only be a good thing. He sings the praises of a trip he and other members of the BTA made to Beijing last year before London won the 2012 Olympic bid. "The Chinese have spent £25m installing 3,500 tourist toilets," he says, "and they are marvellous. I'd never seen anything like it in my life." Which, coming from the UK's self-appointed toilet tsar, is quite something. "There were settees, telephones, everything was automated. They were proper visitor comfort stations."

Can anyone tell me where I can find one of these 'proper visitor comfort stations'?

[Shadowdh]

Boy they sound so far removed from what I have experienced its not funny... I would love to try one of these out...

[studentyoung]

Can anyone tell me where I can find one of these 'proper visitor comfort stations'?

Please check the link below, hope you will find what you are looking for.

http://www.sznews.com/news/content/2006-08/08/content_229686.htm

Thanks!

[heifeng]

I am assuming these are western style toilets....

hmmm I've always had this question, yet have not even searched google to find the answer...

Do squat toilets save more water than western toilets? It seems like the gallon per flush (or whatever unit of measurement is best) would be less.

If that is the case, given China's water crises, are these toilets water conserving? costs and appearance aside, this might be interesting to know....

ps. as mentioned I haven't searched or read article yet to really find answers to these questions.....please don't yell at me me if the answer is in that article I haven't read yet...hehe

[roddy]

I'd think it's about the same per flush - a lot just have a cistern up above like any toilet, no?

[heifeng]

Yeah, they all seem to have that cistern. It just seems that other than the squatting aspect, there should be some other great innovative aspect to squat toilets...*sigh* maybe they just save in porcelein due to the lack of a seating portion and that's it...

[Qcash3]

Can anyone tell me where I can find one of these 'proper visitor comfort stations'?

Pretty sure the 'Toilet Tsar' had a run in with Baijiu before he used a public toilet......

[trevelyan]

不懂外语不敢进

Great headline in that article there, StudentYoung.

[roddy]

Thanks for that link, StudentYoung, but I see no sofas or telephones. And . . .

£25m installing 3,500 tourist toilets

is 375 MILLION RMB. That's over 100,000 RMB per toilet. I've got to see these thrones . . .

Unless . . . could it be . . .minor foreign functionary swallows Beijing Olympic spiel hook, line and sinker . . .surely not . . .

[liuzhou]

That's over 100,000 RMB per toilet

Cheapskates! We have ¥1,000,000 facilites here, you know.

http://liuzhou.blog-city.com/lavatorial_laurels.htm

[Lu]

There's one at one of the Ming graves. Sorry, I forgot which one. Can't remember if it had a phone, but it did have a waiting room with a couch in it, and it was very clean.

[HashiriKata]

It just seems that other than the squatting aspect, there should be some other great innovative aspect to squat toilets...*sigh* maybe they just save in porcelein due to the lack of a seating portion and that's it...

If you do a bit of research, you'll find that squat toilets are an earlier (colonial) type of Western toilets. Nowadays, some people still consider the squat style is more facilitating as regards the business of "dabian". Personally, in public toilets (especially in dirty toilets) I prefer the squat style because my body doesn't have to be in contact with anything when using the toilet

[London Robert]

That's the difference, it seems Western people do not like the sqaut style toilet but I would really prefer this, (in public), simply because it can avoid you touching where other people has touched.

[ocpaul20]

AND..... squatters are a lot more healthy (I did not say 'cleaner') for us and prevents piles, straining, and constipation. Lots of evidence on this, so it is just the famous Thomas Crapper we have to thank for our 'Crapping' problems. Gee, thanks Thomas.

If you MUST look at the evidence some of it is here

http://healthrewardsyou.com/goodelimination.htm

[roddy]

A lot of the new-build public toilets in more up-market office buildings / shopping malls are all sitters, but these places tend to have armies of cleaning staff.

There's one at one of the Ming graves. Sorry, I forgot which one. Can't remember if it had a phone, but it did have a waiting room with a couch in it, and it was very clean.

At last, a confirmed sighting. Thanks!

[RobAnt]

Yeugh - so how do you read your book/magazine, in such a low slung position?

For that matter, how do you retain your balance?

[liuzhou]

AND..... squatters are a lot more healthy

According to a study published in the April 2004 issue of the journal 'Arthritis and Rheumatism', squatting puts tremendous stress on the knees, and doing it habitually appears to contribute to arthritis later in life.

In the study, done by researchers at Boston University, experts studied more than 1,800 senior citizens in China.

Based upon interviews and X-ray images, researchers found that the study participants with a history of squatting at age 25 had an increased chance of developing a breakdown of the knee joint. The more time they had spent squatting, the greater the prevalence of the condition, known as tibiofemoral osteoarthritis.

But chopsticks cause arthritis too!

Allegedly.

[heifeng]

I agree in terms of not having to make contact with anything is the big plus of squat toilets, but the biggest issue with them is that if you are carrying a purse/bookbag or such you really really don't want to put it on the floor due to the additional splatter factor of those before you and if there is no hook in the restroom, holding your bag in your lap just raises the possibility of something falling in while you are juggling with the TP....not that the floors are necessarily cleaner with sit down style toilets though....I hope that those expensive new toilets in the very least include a hook or shelf!