Toilets and hygiene in China: the honest guide nobody writes

Every pre-trip briefing we give ends with the same question, usually asked at the door: what are the toilets like? The answer is better than you fear in the cities, variable outside them, and entirely manageable with three items in your bag. Here is the whole picture, including the parts the glossy guides skip.

Squat or sit?

Both exist, and the split is predictable:

• Sit toilets (Western style): every hotel room, international hotels’ public areas, airports, shopping malls, high-speed trains (at least one per carriage, marked with a pictogram), most restaurants in the big cities, Disneyland, the museums, the major sights. In Shanghai and Beijing you can go days without meeting a squat.
• Squat toilets: older public toilets, small local restaurants, railway stations away from the main lines, temples, rural areas, petrol stations, and some stalls in otherwise modern blocks. Usually clean, often cleaner than a sit toilet in the same building because nothing is touched.

The technique for a squat, since people ask: face the hood (the raised end), feet flat on the ridged footplates, trousers down to the knees and held forward, squat fully with weight on the heels. It is easier in a skirt or loose trousers and harder in tight jeans. Knees that cannot squat are the one real limitation; for those travellers we route around them.

The three things to carry

1. Tissues. Public toilets in China often have no paper in the cubicle; some have a dispenser at the entrance (occasionally one that issues paper after you scan a face or a QR code, which is a story in itself). A packet of tissues in every bag is non-negotiable.
2. Hand sanitiser. Soap is usually present in malls and hotels and often absent in older public toilets.
3. A small bag for used paper. See the next section.

The paper-in-the-bin question

Older Chinese plumbing cannot take paper, so the custom is to put used paper in the bin beside the toilet. In modern hotels, malls, airports and trains the pipes are fine and paper goes in the bowl; where you see a bin with a sign (or a bin obviously in use), follow the local practice. When in doubt, the bin. It is not pleasant and it is not dangerous.

Public toilets in the cities

China’s “toilet revolution” of the last decade built and renovated tens of thousands of public toilets, and the big cities now have them every few hundred metres, signed, free, cleaned on a schedule, and often star-rated on a plaque at the door. In Shanghai they are marked on the map apps; in Beijing’s hutongs they are on every other lane because the courtyard houses never had their own. Quality runs from spotless to grim and is usually visible from the doorway. Shopping malls, big hotels and chain coffee shops are the reliable fallbacks everywhere, and nobody minds you walking in to use them.

Trains and stations: high-speed trains have both squat and sit toilets, cleaned regularly, with soap and sometimes paper. Big stations have large, clean facilities after security; small stations, less so. Airports are international standard.

Sights: the Forbidden City, the Great Wall at Mutianyu, Yu Garden, the Suzhou gardens and the water towns all have modern blocks near the entrances; inside the sites they thin out, so go before you go in. The Beijing itinerary and Suzhou guide note where.

Baby change, accessible and family facilities

Malls, airports, big stations and the major sights have mother-and-baby rooms with change tables, feeding chairs and hot water; they are generally excellent and better than Australian equivalents. Public toilets increasingly have a “third toilet”, a single family or accessible cubicle with a sit toilet and grab rails, signed with a wheelchair and a family icon. Older sites and small restaurants have neither. The baby and toddler guide covers planning days around them.

Rural China

Outside the cities and the big tourist sites, expect squats, no paper, sometimes no door, and occasionally the old communal trough style in the poorest villages, though those are now rare on any route a visitor takes. On our Yiwu and factory trips, factories and the market have ordinary facilities; on a Hui village day near Huangshan, the guesthouses are fine and the village public toilets are basic. A guide knows which restaurant in a village has the clean one, which is a genuine service.

Drinking water and ice

Tap water is not for drinking anywhere in China, including hotels; use it for teeth if you are relaxed, bottled if you are not. Bottled water is cheap and everywhere, hotels provide it free, and boiled water is the national drink. Ice in city restaurants and hotels is made from filtered water and is fine; in a village, skip it. Hot water dispensers on trains and in stations are safe; bring a flask.

Food hygiene, briefly

Chinese kitchens cook everything hot and fast, which is why street food in busy places is generally safe. The simple rules: eat where locals queue, eat what is cooked in front of you, avoid food that has sat out, peel fruit, and go easy on cold dishes in summer in small places. Rehydration sachets and a basic anti-diarrhoeal in the first-aid kit cover the rare bad day. The food guide has the detail on allergies and ordering.

Hand hygiene and the rest

Sanitiser before eating, especially after money, railings and the metro. Masks are common on the metro and in crowds, by habit rather than rule; nobody expects you to wear one. Spitting in the street, once universal, is now rare in the big cities and still seen in the provinces. Public bins are frequent. Pharmacies (look for the green cross) sell familiar basics; the safety guide lists the international clinics for anything more.

The honest summary

In Shanghai and Beijing on a planned itinerary you will mostly use sit toilets in hotels, malls and sights, and the squats you meet will be clean. Carry tissues and sanitiser, put paper in the bin where there is one, and use the mall before the lane. On a tour, the guide schedules the stops, and the question at the door turns out to have been the easiest one to answer.