I don't mean to get too gra
phic here, but am I the only one who initially was repulsed by "squat toilets" (you know what I mean, no toilet seat, just a hole in the ground) but has come around and realized that *clean* ones are actually more sanitary that western style toilets?
Seriously, not to go John Grisham on you, but imagine if the West had squat toilets and China had regular toilet seats. Think about how much complaining there would be about having to touch the seat.
Do westerners dislike them because they aren't used to them, they're worse, or because usually they are dirty? I say it's option one, and we should come to accept the superiority of the drop toilet!!
Comments
Right?
I guess in a certain sense what you're saying may be right. But how many clean squat toilet have you seen? Also, the potential to miss the target is much better. Perhaps in the public setting squatters are better, but in my home I'll take the golden throne any day.
Shower combo
Have you seen when the drop toilet is basically the drain for the shower? It's a two-for-one: you can clean the toilet while showering!
Wrong
Let's face it, drop toilets suck. If you're a man the odds you miss are pretty good, and who wants to squat down on the floor in some dirty bar. I guess the general cleanliness makes a difference too, but I think it's fair to say it is not cultural superiority to hate drop toilets. Who's with me??
Squat everything
I think there should be even more things in everyday life that involve squatting. For example, I'm very pleased that many Chinese squat on the street when they are waiting for buses etc. This is a positive trend.
Other squatting activities to be encouraged:
1. showering
2. boozing
3. cooking
Squat toilets?
Where do they have these things? I've never seen one. Are they like the picture in the post? That doesn't look too bad.
You'll learn
They're everywhere! The worst is in a bar where people are drunk and no one is hitting.
But the really question is:
sit or squat?
Sit
SIT!!!!
gotta squat
squatting is the way to go baby!
You know it
Squat
Sit
Sit
Is this really a question
Who in their right mind would rather squat over a dirty hole than sit and read a book?
SIT!
Uh...
Can't believe so many people are weighing in on this stupidity.
SQUAT
Squats can be the
Squats can be the avant-garde choice. Some of the chicest clubs in NYC and London are contemplating scrapping their sit-down pots and installing the holes, due to the general fever for all things Chinese.
Real Chinese?
If they want to be really Chinese they would have those giant signs
"禁止大便！"
I somehow suspect that wouldn't fly in those "chic" spots eh?
I was once asked at a very
I was once asked at a very upmarket dinner about Investing in China this question at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver: www.brownpalace.com. Very posh. I was the key note speaker, had finished my presentation about China, and asked if there were any questions. This bloke raised his hand and asked me "Do they still have squat toilets in China ? I was there 15 years ago and thats all they had then. Have things improved ?" You know I've been asked a lot of strange questions about investing in China but that had to be the weirdest. I replied by describing what a squat toilet actually was, as most people in Denver had little idea of what he was talking about. I then brought the house down by saying "Modesty prevents me from demonstrating how to use it..."
Strangely I've never been back to Denver since...
Why?
Why would a squatter be chic? I guess for people that have never used them...they would still not be chic I would think.
Beg to differ
In light of the above comment I am switching my vote to sit. The idea of you wanted to watch a girl on a squatter will give me nightmares.
Wind on the Buttocks
There is something refreshing about that blast of crisp air. Squatting in the winter in a hutong WC offers some ecstasy - like you are on the steppe and there are wolves and antelope not far away.
Why chic?
Imagine a beautiful young woman squatting to relieve. Isn't it somehow more primal and suggestive than sitting on a toilet? It fits the clubbing spirit. I would go further and suggest that these squatting toilets should actually be on the dance floor, or perhaps on stages surrounded by glass.
On a related subject, hutongs are really devoted to bodily needs in a no frills way - have you noticed? I took a leisure ride through them yesterday. Next to public toilets, stalls selling baozi, and homes (for sleeping) were on every side.
Hutongs exhibit no shame as they present the basic things you need to live. In other places, defecation and utilitarian sex are not shown off with such nonchalance.
The drab public defecation chamber adjacent to a purple lit barber shop is going to be one of the abiding images of my time in Beijing. It's almost one-stop squat 'n screw.
Confucious say: In apartment
Confucious say: In apartment block equipped with squat toilets, never live on ground floor.
but
What if they're squat toilets inside homes and not those stinky public ones?
I don' think you translated that quotation correctly!
I've seen in the UK some
I've seen in the UK some recreated old wooden houses from the middle ages. They used to have a loo hole sticking out of the outer wall, on the second or third floor, so your butt would poke out. Then you'd drop your load down below. Pigs used to love it apparently. Thank goodness for the Romans who came and educated us about sewers and sanitation. It was indeed, however a Brit who invented the flushing toilet - the water closet. (WC) His name ? Mr. Crapper. Which is where we get the mild vulgarity from.
Too Graphic
This is slightly graphic, so be warned. We're already in the crapper anyway, so here goes:
The first time I, uh, used a squatter when I actually had to squat, if you get my meaning, I miscalculated and squatted too far back, missing the target entirely to my horror.
Health Benefits of Squat Toilets
Seven Advantages of Squatting
1. Makes elimination faster, easier and more complete. This helps prevent "fecal stagnation," a prime factor in colon cancer, appendicitis and inflammatory bowel disease.
2. Protects the nerves that control the prostate, bladder and uterus from becoming stretched and damaged.
3. Securely seals the ileocecal valve, between the colon and the small intestine. In the conventional sitting position, this valve is unsupported and often leaks during evacuation, contaminating the small intestine.
4. Relaxes the puborectalis muscle which normally chokes the rectum in order to maintain continence.
5. Uses the thighs to support the colon and prevent straining. Chronic straining on the toilet can cause hernias, diverticulosis, and pelvic organ prolapse.
6. A highly effective, non-invasive treatment for hemorrhoids, as shown by published clinical research.
7. For pregnant women, squatting avoids pressure on the uterus when using the toilet. Daily squatting helps prepare the mother-to-be for a more natural delivery.
From: http://NaturesPlatform.com/health_benefits.html
Pregnant women
Isn't it difficult for women to squat like that when pregnant?
Not at all difficult
As they explain on the website, we were designed to squat for bodily functions, including childbirth. It only seems uncomfortable because we have been alienated from our natural habits.
This lady looks comfortable, doesn't she?
It's Not The Squat ....
But the cleanup afterwards that poses most problems
to the unitiated. You can try to hold out for as long as
possible at some formal (or semi-formal) banquet at
which you are the guest, and the dishes keep coming
& coming. Everyone is saying "Eat more, eat more!"
Sooner or later, you just have to make a mercy dash.
Grab as much tissue as you can from the dining table
because, when applying Murphy's Law, there won't be
any available when you need it most. For that matter,
the water and power supply could go out as well.
The whole squat process is much simpler further south
than China in other parts of Asia, where water & bucket
are usually readily at hand.
Who knew
I never thought this would spark so much interest, or so many graphic pictures, but I guess there are few places we spend as much time as the bathroom.
A little confusing
I understand women have to squat, but can't men mostly stand? I've seen Chinese guess, er, squatting (usually with the door open, or lacking a door at all) in public WCs, but do foreign men really do that at a restaurant? Unless it's an emergency, and in that case you don't care much do you?
Wha?
When you've got to go, you've go to go. It doesn't matter where you are!
Squat toilet primer
http://www.worldhum.com/how_to/item/use_a_squat_toilet_20060923/
Nice but
I understand the rationale, and I'm sure clean modern ones are great...but I've never used one that didn't stink like hell. Plus people get drunk and lose phones in them. How many times has that happened in a normal toilet?
I would prefer a clean
I would prefer a clean western toilet to a clean squat toilet any day, but when I think about how dirty a western toilet would be if it happened to be in a CHinese bathroom, the thought repulses me beyond anything.
In CHina, i'd rather squat over thin air than sit down on what most certainly would be a filthy western toilet. But yeah, Chinese bathrooms are appalling. I can't wait to see what everyone says at the olympics.
SIT
I have to say, for pregnant women and the elderly, squatter toilets are quite an unpleasant inconvenience! I only encountered one pleasant one my entire tenure in China. And it was in a very nice restaurant.
I would much rather sit after a hard days work than have to squat. Sitting really puts the RELIEF in "RELIEVING yourself."
It's all about hygiene
These toilets are good for places where nobody takes care of them. You can't seat on any toilet seat so I think this is a good toilet for public rooms.
Haha the funny thing is when
Haha the funny thing is when i am using a seat toilet I can't stop picturing a fat filthy foreigner sitting on it even in a 5 star hotel.
So squat all the way
toilets
No they are not better they might be less expensive but they are not comfortable at all
Squat Toilets
I have extremely terrible back trouble and I can't even think of getting into the squat position much less pull myself back up afterwards.
Healthy?
I read the post about the health benefits, but seriously - now I know why so many of these countries continue to have these communicable diseases that the developed world doesn't suffer. It's not the elimination, it's the clean up! No paper, no adequate washing facilities, using the same water you clean yourself with to flush the hole. This method certainly is more primal, but better?
And we also know why the asians greet each other by bowing. Who wants to shake their hands, perhaps they just wiped?
huh?
Ruby Moo, you mean your toilet wipes your bottom for you, or you don't have to use wipe your bottom? You clean it with your tongue like that cat or dog does? I am sorry if I was right about you.
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