Job Discussion Forums

[cujobytes]

Do you somehow imagine that they would suddenly decide to clean and maintain the bathrooms if they were sitters? I doubt it, imagine the state of the seat you'd be expecting to SIT on, covered in you know what and you know what.
As for paper, I don't think it would magically appear simply because the cubicles contained sitters.
A lesson early learned in China, always carry a packet of tissues with you.

[tw]

[shonisan]

[cujobytes]

[Volodiya]

Herman, if I can supplement your list,

"5. I make sure my cell phone doesn't fall out of my pocket."

I once saw a guy with his arm down one of these toilets, trying to retrieve his cell phone.

Poll: What would you have done, under the circumstances, above?
a) bravely and resolutely plunge your arm into the foul-smelling mixture; or,
b) buy a new cell phone?

[Mideatoo]

Look everyone:

- Most of Chinese are ''fake''.
- Most of China is 50 to 100 years behind the US.

If you can live with that, then you'll be fine.

[Midlothian Mapleheart]

Edited to remove offensive content.

Middy

[Starry Night]

[zhamr]

Not wanting to add fuel to an already inflamed debate, but the disagreement over the Boxer Rebellion may have arisen due to confusing the Boxers with the Taipings, who in fact were a radical Christian sect, occupying nearly half of China during the mid-1800s.

My own understanding of this sorry episode, recorded briefly here (with some editorial truncation) is that the leader of the sect, Hong Xiuquan, had a vision in which he was 'revealed' as the younger brother of Jesus and on the basis of this vision, he set forth to bring a message of moral purity and military conquest to China. The Taipings attracted a great deal of attention because of their ruthlessness (especially towards corrupt Chinese), but I understand they were also associated with violence against foreign corruption as well. The Taipings advanced to within the suburbs of Shanghai, much to the horror of the Chinese and foreigners traders there.

Interestingly, the Taipings (having established the capital of their 'heavenly kingdom' in Nanjing) were eventually defeated by a mercenary army of foreign troops and some locals hired out to the emperor by the foreign powers. It is ironic that when faced with a choice of a morally upright, uncorrupted, Christian government (albeit espousing some fairly flaky theology) and the murky world of Qing governance, the foreign powers chose money ahead of morality; clearly everyone wanted business as usual.

As a footnote it is also perhaps instructive to recall that the mercenary army levelled the forbidden city in Nanjing (which was larger than the copy built in Beijing) and killed every man, woman, and child remaining within the Nanjing city wall (many had already fled by the time the army arrived - only the truly committed remained to face their fate).

[Roger]

go slow, go slow, zhanr! I think you have ann overly nostalgic, jaded view of that Hong Xiaoquan character.
A more modern parallel to him might be that Li something person founder of the Falun Gong "movement".
The commonality lies in their megalomania and xenophobia. Both went over dead bodies to further their interests.
And both bamboozled westerners and Chinese alike!

[Captain Yossarian]

You are referring to Li Hong Zhi, Changchun's most famous ex-citizen.

I know a guy who was a primary school classmate of Li's. I pressed him for some more info but the only thing he could say with any clarity was that 'he played the trumpet well'!

[ContemporaryDog]

[ContemporaryDog]

[ContemporaryDog]

[tw]

Well, since the topic has now pretty turned to Chinese WC's, I'd have to say that the little village to the north of my college's campus has quite a few FREE public washrooms (I counted about 3 or 4) where people would just walk in to do their business. BUT man! You can smell the stench from at least 20 feet away.