Urbanization is typically portrayed in terms of massive skyscrapers and lane highways, the city extending both upward and outward. Toilet and sewers, for example, are two examples of the extensive, but less visually appealing, industrial system that designs and is shaped by the daily lives of its citizens.
In China, chamber pots were also a popular feature of metropolitan life up until the late 2010s. Families emptied their own matong buckets or teeth tanyu at social waste sites. For agrarian purposes, the spare was transported to suburban and rural areas.
In 2015, President Xi Jinping launched the global bathroom revolution. By 2020, town authorities had added 68, 000 more people toilets, by the end of 2022, 73 % of rural people apparently had access to eliminate toilet.
However, as research has long demonstrated, access to modern hygiene and industrial development are not of equal quality. When a poorer area is slated for restoration, inside wiring is often not considered a goal.
Citizens of older, less developed urban areas still rely on chamber pots and community waste collection companies. Additionally, some older neighborhoods rely on septic tanks that need to be generally emptied, while others are not.
Behaviour, too, are shifting carefully. Local residents frequently attribute immigrant communities to poor sanitary conditions in both older and newer districts. This leads to prejudice and sometimes even coercion.
Our most recent study examines how social inequality affects hygiene in the west coast city of Shanghai. We’ve discovered that hygiene is also concerned with authority, culture, and social norms as well as cleanliness.
Everyday sanitary
Between 2019 and 2022, our study group visited six different districts in the center of Shanghai, conducting interviews with 54 people of different women, age and places of origin.
We wanted to know how cultural and social conventions are incorporated into people’s daily housekeeping routines, and how well-equipped sanitation systems can meet their needs. We also wanted to observe the inequality that this system and people’s daily lives produce.
We discovered that the rhythms of daily life are a part of sanitation practices as well as natural rhythms. In between shopping, going for walks, and exercising, residents who do n’t have flush toilets at home have to schedule visits to public bathrooms.
In another older districts, instead of common bathrooms, multiple households in a building or on the same street may share a bathroom. People must make travel plans to avoid active hours before and after work.
In some older districts and those slated for restoration, people continue to use room pots. They leave them at pick-up locations half a moment, in the morning before going to work and in the night before going to bed.
Extraordinary numbers of people from the countryside have arrived in Shanghai and other locations as a result of China’s rapid urbanization. These rural-to-urban workers, who are frequently overworked and time-hungry, do not always adhere to native customs when disposing of their waste, according to the long-term inhabitants of older districts we spoke to.
Some may, for example, cover their chamber pots with plastic bags and dispose of the material, bag and all, at the variety facilities. Blockages and floods, which are a significant public health threat, have frequently been the result of this. As one citizen, migrant worker Lou*, put it:” Inhabitants blame immigrant workers for making people toilet dirty”.
Immigrant workers also criticize the residents of these more recent neighborhoods who also use compartment pots. This outdated method, which they believe is outdated, has long been replaced by private or shared toilet in their household towns and villages.
Sanitation facilities in Shanghai, 1995–2019
Sometimes, including menstrual waste disposal, public or shared toilet blocks do n’t have the amenities that women need. When Zhu, a 25- year- ancient immigrant worker, was female, she said she felt defenseless because the public bathroom was equipped with urinals simply, no toilets with seats. In their occupied home, her husband installed a secret flush toilet.
Local government tolerate DIY bathroom installation, which is a common practice. However, these toilets are usually connected directly to rainwater drains, which can lead to unpleasant odors, wastewater flow and, possibly, drinking fluids contamination.
When connected to septic tank, there are other issues. Yu, a 70- season- older local citizen, pointed to the financial disincentives at work. She claimed sanitation workers appear to prefer to increase the frequency of their visits rather than completely empty them. Doing so is more profitable.
The use of chemical fertilizers and sewer-based, water-based sanitation has decreased the value of human waste in agriculture. Cleaning professionals no longer care about maximizing the amount of trash they can collect.
Private flush toilets are typically more prevalent in wealthy neighborhoods. This has resulted in new social norms and hygiene practices. In order for the convenience of both women and girls, men and boys are expected to remove the toilet seat after urinating.
Parents use toilet seat covers to stop children from getting sick by coming into direct contact with water or droplets from flushing.
Qiu, a 33- year- old man, said having his first child changed the way he thought about sanitation:” My wife’s careful selection of hygiene products for our baby made us more conscious of personal hygiene”.
As a result of these changing attitudes, hygiene products – wipes, tissues, seat covers – have become increasingly popular. This has clear implications for the more widespread production and disposal of ( solid ) waste.
Even in neighborhoods where people have access to private toilets, however, chamber pots have not disappeared entirely. Yaya explained to us that her elderly neighbors frequently keep one by their bedside.
Not just for convenience, but also for nostalgia and cultural heritage are at stake. Traditionally, the humble chamber pot – also known as zisun tong, or offspring pot – is an item of value for Han people, given as a wedding present by the bride’s family. It continues to have a lasting impact in a world that is rapidly evolving.
*To protect the interviewees ‘ anonymity, all names in this article have been changed.
Qi Liu is a postdoctoral fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Deljana Iossifova is a professor at the University of Manchester.
This article was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.