Chinese public toilets

98%  of the time public toilets in China are the squatting kind.  The Chinese have western style toilets in their apartments so it's not that they don't use them at all.    The Chinese feel that it's cleaner to use the squatting kind in public.  On one hand I understand their point.  When I see a public toilet that's western (rare) it does seem dirty because the Chinese aren't used to using them in public.  I know some literally stand on the toilet so they don't have to sit.  Whatever the reason, they do seem dirty. 

This is what most of the public toilets look like:

Some are nicer than others.  I used one at a karaoke place that had mirrors all around it.  Who's bright idea was that??  There should be no mirrors anywhere near toilets - especially squatting toilets.  They do flush.  Usually there's no toilet paper in the bathroom - just like there are no napkins at restaurants I suppose.  There is definitely an odor which is not easy to ignore.  The smell at the school is pretty strong on the weekends after 1500 parents, students, and teachers have used them.  Gross.  You don't even have to be in the bathroom to smell it.

I find the dirty part of the hole style toilet is what you might be stepping in.  Sometimes it seems that not everything has made it in the hole.  That means we could be tracking whatever it is around on our shoes.  They're trying to be cleaner by not sitting where everyone sits while at the same time risking that whatever gets on their shoes follows them around.  I guess it's just another Chinese contradiction.