24 September 2012 (Day 19):

At the Tianjin University, a new year had started. All the shops were open and every road that we walked down was bustling with students. That also brought some news to us- The classroom we had used in the College of International Education was going to be used by the University students so we had to move to another classroom in another building instead.

The school building directly facing the main gate, decorated with colourful banners to welcome the students

Our new classroom is on the 3^rd level of this building

 

 At this new building, I noticed that the washrooms looked different from the others elsewhere. In this one, all of the toilets were squat toilets (nothing unusual there) but the cubicle doors and walls were… rather short. So if we were to stand up, our heads would stick out just above the door.

The cubicles

 

Delores standing in one of the cubicles to demonstrate the height of the cubicle walls and doors

 

So far, except for the toilets in the hotel rooms and Tianjin’s “Sim Lim Square”, majority of the toilets elsewhere are squat toilets. And even if there was a sitting toilet available, the Chinese would rather wait for the squat toilets.

Up to now, I was curious to know why the Chinese used squat toilets. After doing some research, I found out that the Chinese preferred them to the sitting toilets because at the squatting toilet, they could avoid coming into contact with germs on the toilet seat.

Another interesting point to note is that squatting is said to be the “most natural position” to answer nature’s call in. The first health benefit is that it allows quicker and easier defecation. In addition, it is also said to prevent and relieve colon, prostate, bladder, and bowel disorders.

I hope that from this blog entry, you will gain… er… new insight on the squatting toilet.

Thanks for reading!

 

Best regards,

Marianne

 

Author’s Note:

References

(Any quotes made are from the below stated website.)

Eve Sun. (30 March 2012). Squat Toilets: What’s Your Position? Retrieved on 24 September 2012 from http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2012/03/squat-toilets-whats-your-position/