A Tale of Two Cultures

Finally China’s government decided to replace "W.C." with "Toilet" as the name of a public restroom.

A notice was published by the Beijing government yesterday.

"W.C,", or Water Closet, has been put on the door of every public restroom with the Chinese name “Ce Suo” in China. We believe in putting Chinese name and English name together on the door of restroom so western tourists know where to go after they enjoy the delicious Chinese food.

Really? My English teacher in middle school told me his personal experience :

He was walking on the street when a western tourist asked him where was the bathroom.

“I obviously thought that was the “Public Bathroom” and told him where to go and you can imagine what happened,” he recalled, refering to public baths.

You can imagine how surprised I was when I heard that people on the other side of the world don’t use "W.C."!

Actually there were a lot of public baths when I was a child since Chinese had no bathroom or W.C. in their own houses at that time. In a typical building, usually a number of People living in one floor shared one “W.C”. And it was a simple ditch but not flush toilet. If you wanted to have a bath, you could have it in your own room with a wood tub and put the hot water into it, which took a lot of time. If you needed a shower or a bath in a real bath tub, you had to go to a public bath.

Before I was 15 years old I went to the public bath every week and it was so crowded that I had to wait 40 minutes outside of a shower cubicle. I was always wondering if I would become a science fiction writer since I had so much time to think. I might also become a scientist who invents a waterproof book so that people in the long line would not waste time.

As an investigative reporter, I am famous for patience in my newsroom. I could not stop thinking that it is the bath trip that helps to cultivate my patience.

This kind of inconvenience changed when I entered high school. My family moved into a new apartment and had a dark red bath tub and a flush toilet.

Last year I renovated the bathroom in my own apartment in Beijing. I covered the wall with dark blue tiles, my favorite color. On the wall I put a papyrus painting I got from Egypt. I bought a big wood tub so that I can have a spa there. With wireless appliances, I even write stories and read on my tiny VAIO when I enjoy the spa.

Now almost every Chinese family in the cities has a bathroom in their own apartment. Most new houses on sale even provide two to four bathrooms. At the same time, “Restroom” or “Toilet” already replaces “W.C.” in many public places such as restaurants, hospitals, stadiums and parks.

So, don’t worry where to go when you enjoy the Olympic Games in Beijing. We know exactly where the bath room is!