BEIJING: The world’s largest economy has launched the latest toilets loaded with Wi-Fi, ATM and television screens in a bit to overhaul its public sanitation system.
People don’t usually like to linger in public restrooms; in China, with the squat toilets, shortage of toilet paper, and sometimes unsanitary conditions, the bathroom experience can be daunting. Now, high-tech restrooms could turn public toilet-use into a more enjoyable situation.
According to The New York Times, China will be renovating or constructing 57,000 public bathrooms, and some of them will be equipped with high-tech gadgets.
In Fangshan, a new public facility has turbo-flushing powers in the toilets, along with wireless internet and TV screens in the stalls. The windows are lined with aloe vera plants, and a cello soundtrack plays in the background.
The first new-generation bathroom opened to the public in November, in front of the government offices of the Fangshan District in south-west Beijing.
It will even conserve water, recycling sink water to flush toilets.
The event was timed to celebrate the ‘World’s Toilet Day,’ which falls on the same day, and is a part of the first ‘China Toilet Revolution Propaganda Day.’
For many years, China has suffered from sanitary issues in its public bathrooms. In poorer communities, 14 million people must defecate in the open.
‘Change is certainly needed,’ Lu Suisheng told NYT. ‘In some Chinese toilets, people need to step on bricks to avoid stepping on dirty areas. How can you use toilets like that?’
