Western tourists are the ones who suffer the most and without a doubt the Chinese themselves must be used to it, but it seems that the lack of toilets in China continues without going unnoticed, and now Xi Jinping has demanded that the authorities to continue and intensify the actions of the “Revolution of the bathrooms”.
With all the approval of such a measure, it must be said that President Xi Jinping has emphasized intensifying the bathroom revolution, now in the rural areas of the country, calling for solid efforts and practical work to guarantee the quality and the real results of the campaign.
Xi, also general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in an instruction on working to promote the revolution of the bathrooms, indispensable today and in the pandemic context.
So thanks to sustained efforts to promote clean bathrooms in recent years, “there have been notable improvements in rural living environments“, Said the first Chinese president.
The bathroom revolution, as stated on the website of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), will continue to be an important task of vitalizing communities in the next five years.
In this regard, Xi demanded “solid progress in light of local conditions and scientifically, avoiding formalism and waste of resources, with the aim of solving an important issue regarding hygiene in the communities around the country ”.
Along the same lines, the head of the Chinese Communist Party urged authorities at all levels “to do joint efforts and fulfill their duties to produce good and concrete results ”.
The Xi’s instruction was read at a national meeting on the “toilet revolution” in rural areas and not so much, which was held last week in Hengyang, Hunan province, central China.
Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua, who also attended the meeting, emphasized efforts to carry out the work steadily and pragmatically under the principle of “Quality first”.
Hu asked for a simultaneous progress in improving bathrooms and particularly toilets, where the supply of water and the treatment of sewage are formalized in order to guarantee that hygiene standards are met.
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China’s long-standing toilet problem
In China only four and five star hotels have bathrooms in their lobbiesFor this reason, for those who have the possibility of accessing one of them, they may feel benefited, but if you are an inexperienced tourist, a walk through any of the main cities of the country may become an experience to forget.
But it would not be fair to detract from the significant efforts by the China National Tourism Administration and the cities themselves, since now most cities and major tourist attractions have new public baths and an attendant who practically lives there to keep them clean.
It has to be said that almost all Chinese public toilets they are free, A problem that persists in the interior of the country, as we mentioned in the preceding paragraphs regarding the measures of President Xi.
The main recommendation for Western mortals is to bear in mind that it is imperative to carry tissue paper, since the “free” toilet is not the norm outside of the five star hotels.
But, luckily for the eastern souls that live there, let us do justice by saying that China’s toilet revolution formally began in Beijing in the 1980s, but it was in 2015 that the problem in rural areas began to be addressed.
The intensive effort of previous administrations, in pursuit of improving the nation’s facilities has been going on for years and at the end of 2017, they have been built or rebuilt 68,000 bathrooms nationwide, which are still few if we take into account that in 2019, the Chinese population amounts to 1,398 million inhabitants, therefore there is one public toilet for every 20,558 passersby.
In fact, today Beijing has some of the most advanced baths in the country, rated by stars, according to the standards of the Beijing Tourism Administration, including one equipped with personal televisions, charging stations, Wi-Fi, ATM, and relaxing music… which is busy most of the time.
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