Timers In Women's Toilets At Popular Tourist Site In China Sparks Debate Among Netizens
According to the staff working there, this was done to reduce bathroom queues.
A tourist site in Shanxi province in Northern China, has garnered mixed reactions from netizens for its unique solution to manage queues in the women's restroom
A video featuring restrooms equipped with timers on stall doors at the Yungang Grottoes cave complex, a popular tourist attraction, has gone viral across Chinese social media.
Image via @牙牙仔 (Douyin)
Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Yungang Grottoes features caves and ancient stone sculptures from more than 1,600 years ago. The site attracted over three million visitors last year, as reported by SCMP.
A staff member at the grottoes explained that the timers were installed to alleviate long waiting times caused by the increasing number of tourists and insufficient bathrooms available.
The timers do not impose a time limit but only indicate whether a stall is occupied and how long someone's been in the stall
Image via @Stacy (Douyin)
When a stall is occupied, the timer turns red and starts running. Once the stall is vacant, the timer turns green.
Image via @牙牙仔 (Douyin)
Apparently, the queues for women's bathrooms get so long that some female visitors have even resorted to using the men's bathroom to relieve themselves
Image via @洋洋 (Douyin)
It seems that long queues in women's bathrooms are a widespread issue.
Douyin user, @洋洋, shared a video of a group of ladies waiting in line to use the cubicle at a men's public bathroom in Shandong, China.
"I was stunned when I entered the men's restroom. It was full of ladies. They even greeted me. I have never seen such a scene before. Isn't this ridiculous?" he shared in the video's caption.
This "timer" method has also been adopted by other public bathrooms in China
Another video, which was shared by Douyin user @Kiddy, shows people waiting in line to use the toilets at Tianjin Railway Station in Tianjin, China.
Watch the video below:
Similarly, these bathrooms feature timers displayed on the walls to indicate its vacancy.
The caption reads, "Tianjin public toilet with timers, it's weird and embarrassing".
Many female tourists who used the bathrooms at Yungang Grottoes also felt embarrassed by the timers
According to SCMP, a tourist told the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald that while she did think the timers could stop people from hogging the toilets, she couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed, like she was being watched.
The general consensus among those who disagree with this innovation is that this is not a good long-term solution for long restroom queues, and that it would be better to build more bathrooms for female visitors.
"If there aren't enough bathrooms, why don't they just build more?" a netizen asked.
"It just seems like a waste of money to me," another commented.
Image via Weibo
Meanwhile, plenty of netizens have also voiced out their support for this initiative, stating that it is a practical solution to long queues
"I think it's a pretty good idea. Some people enter the toilet and stay in there as if it's a delivery room for at least half an hour," one netizen said.
Image via Douyin
Another user shared that the timers could be especially useful for visitors who have poor health or faint easily.
"With this timer installed, you can notify the staff to check if the person inside does not come out after a long time, which can save many elderly people, and women are more prone to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)," they said.
Image via Douyin
A female netizen also felt that the timers were a reasonable addition to help curb long queues in the bathroom.
"After all, no matter where the queue is, it is always the women's restroom. You never know what a woman can do if she can spend a long time in there? I suspect that some even give birth to their children in there! I think with this device, the staff can help you if you've been in there for too long."
Image via Douyin
"Installing timers or not, I don't care what you do. Just don't occupy the men's restroom," a male netizen commented.
Image via Douyin
Speaking of innovation, this railway station design also sparked debates among netizens about its resemblance to a sanitary pad:
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