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Dirty toilets, uncouth behaviour: Travelling to China requires confronting old tropes
China deserves the same openness we extend to any other country. A visit there may change your mind.
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A visitor taking a selfie at Beihai Park in Beijing on March 3.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Karen Tee
Growing up, one of my earliest impressions of China was of the toilets. I remember listening to relatives and friends’ parents telling tales about the loos as the most “memorable” part of their holidays.
With remarkable consistency, they spoke of toilets that were little more than pits in the ground and cubicles with no doors. Their sagest advice, offered with complete earnestness, was to always bring an umbrella so it could double as a privacy shield when nature called.
