China needs a toilet revolution
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I was in Seoul recently for a short holiday. Seoul has everything that you can't complain about: great Korean food, fast Internet, polite people, clean environment, delicately dressed girls, amazing shopping…and, the ubiquitous, spotless public toilets.
The public toilets in Seoul are easy to find with obvious signs, nice interior design like picture-adorned walls, well painted divisions with a commode inside and enough toilet paper. Some of these commodes seem to need engineers to operate – a row of buttons right next to the toilets provides you with options of "spray" or "bidet" or "warm", or other functions I didn't understand and dared not to try. Special divisions for the disabled and maternity rooms are always available.
It was a paradise for me when I realized I actually didn't have to worry about eating or drinking too much and not able to find a toilet – I was liberated from the concerns that I always have when I travel.
In China, finding a clean toilet has always been my biggest headache. I've seen squat toilets without any water to flush with, ones with a simple hole under wooden slabs, and tiny enclosures made of bricks with flocks of flies dancing around. The most disturbing one was once when I was traveling in Xinjiang and after having a bowl of noodle in a little roadside restaurant I asked the owner where I could use the bathroom, he simply pointed outward to the door – "there, anywhere," he told me. When I walked out of that back door I saw a wilderness full of feces where hungry stray dogs hunted for food. People were literally answering the calls of nature anywhere.
Ok, it might not be completely fair if I only associate the toilets in rural China with those in Seoul. I haven't seen any rural Korean public toilets so I leave that comparison to another time. But Beijing, as China's capital, is not doing too well either. I have noticed there are more public toilets now but most of them are the old style squat holes and a lot of them don't have running water for users to wash hands. Restaurants are worse – signs of "no stool, tube blocked" or "please do not shit" are seen in almost every mid-ranged, sometimes even expensive restaurants. It makes you wonder why Beijing's plumbing seems to be broken all the time and never repaired. I haven't figured out exactly why but the lesson is: you are not supposed to use the toilet except when at home! And I don't have to mention that except five star hotels, you will NEVER find toilet paper.
Korea's public toilets were not perfect from the beginning. They've been through phases of being dirty and unhygienic too, but in late 1990s and early 2000s, Korean government decided to start this toilet revolution and it has proven to be a huge success. In 2008, two Korean cities, Seongbuk and Jinju, won the world toilet contest for investing a significant amount of money in rehabilitating and upgrading government-operated toilets.
It's been three years since Beijing held Olympic Games and yet the city is still far away from a revolution that can bring us nice and clean toilets. China has taken Japan's place as the world's second largest economy and well on track to catch up with the U.S., but how long does it need to build some convenient public toilets for its own citizens and international travelers? I've been to rural Vietnam and Cambodia and unfortunately I did not see toilets as bad as the ones in China, and I firmly believe China should be embarrassed and ashamed. A country is not going to be respected just because this country's government has held Olympics, World Expo or any other billion dollar projects or events. A truly civilized country provides humane and convenient service to its tax payers instead of throwing extravagant banquets and parties to impress others.
China is going to host the 2011 World Toilet Summit in its Hainan Province in the coming November. If the Olympics didn't bring many real changes to China, I sincerely hope this summit helps introduce a toilet revolution to agenda and help raise the awareness among the public. And, I'd like to recommend a trip to Seoul to everyone.
Gubo works for an American news broadcaster and lives in Beijing.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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