中国厕所革命 | China's Toilet Revolution: From Nightmare to Five Stars

你推开一扇公厕的门，扑面而来的不是异味，而是轻柔的背景音乐。洗手台上方的电子屏显示着空气质量指数和厕位使用情况。隔间里有智能马桶、免费厕纸、紧急呼叫按钮，墙角甚至摆着一小盆绿植。这不是哪个五星酒店的卫生间——这是2024年北京奥林匹克公园旁边的一座公共厕所。

You push open the door of a public restroom, and what hits you isn't a foul smell but soft background music. An electronic screen above the sink displays the air quality index and stall availability. Inside the stall: a smart toilet, free toilet paper, an emergency call button, and even a small potted plant in the corner. This isn't a five-star hotel bathroom — it's a public toilet next to Beijing's Olympic Park in 2024.

十年前，同一个地段的公厕是什么样子？蹲坑之间没有隔板，地上永远湿漉漉的，你得自备纸巾，还得练就一身憋气的功夫。外国游客在社交媒体上吐槽中国公厕的帖子，曾经是旅行论坛上的热门话题。

What did a public toilet in the same area look like ten years ago? No partitions between squat pits, floors perpetually slippery, you had to bring your own tissue, and you needed to master the art of holding your breath. Foreign tourists complaining about Chinese public toilets on social media used to be a top topic on travel forums.

从"三面墙两块砖一个坑"说起

中国农村的旱厕曾经有个经典描述："三面墙、两块砖、一个坑。"没有门，没有冲水装置，苍蝇是常驻居民。根据住建部的数据，2015年全国城市公厕数量约为12.3万座，其中达到二类以上标准的不到30%。农村的情况更加严峻——当时有超过70%的农村家庭使用旱厕。

Rural China's dry toilets once had a classic description: "three walls, two bricks, one pit." No door, no flushing mechanism, flies as permanent residents. According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, there were approximately 123,000 urban public toilets nationwide in 2015, with fewer than 30% meeting second-class standards or above. The rural situation was even grimmer — over 70% of rural households used dry pit latrines at the time.

转折点出现在2015年。那一年，国家旅游局（现文旅部）正式启动"厕所革命"，计划三年内新建和改造旅游厕所5.7万座。这个数字后来被大幅超越——到2020年底，全国共建设和改造旅游厕所超过12万座。

The turning point came in 2015, when the former National Tourism Administration (now the Ministry of Culture and Tourism) officially launched the "Toilet Revolution," planning to build or renovate 57,000 tourist toilets within three years. That target was massively exceeded — by the end of 2020, over 120,000 tourist toilets had been built or renovated nationwide.

景区厕所：最先变脸的前线

旅游景区是厕所革命最先攻克的阵地。你现在去故宫、长城、九寨沟这些热门景点，会发现厕所不仅干净，而且设施完备。故宫在2019年完成了全部卫生间的改造，增设了第三卫生间（家庭卫生间），配备了婴儿护理台和无障碍设施。黄山景区的部分厕所甚至安装了"人脸识别取纸机"——你对着摄像头刷一下脸，机器会自动出纸，同一张脸在9分钟内不能重复取纸，据说每年为景区节省厕纸费用超过40万元。

Tourist attractions were the first front conquered by the Toilet Revolution. Visit the Forbidden City, Great Wall, or Jiuzhaigou today and you'll find toilets that are not just clean but fully equipped. The Forbidden City completed renovation of all its restrooms by 2019, adding family restrooms with baby-changing stations and accessible facilities. Some toilets at Huangshan even feature "facial recognition paper dispensers" — scan your face at the camera, and the machine dispenses paper automatically. The same face cannot request more paper within nine minutes, reportedly saving the scenic area over 400,000 yuan in toilet paper costs annually.

张家界的玻璃栈道旁有一座建在悬崖边上的"景观厕所"，你可以一边如厕一边俯瞰峡谷。重庆的洪崖洞附近则出现了"科技范儿"十足的智慧公厕，实时显示每个隔间的使用状态，还能监测氨气和硫化氢的浓度，自动触发排风系统。

Near Zhangjiajie's glass skywalk sits a "scenic view toilet" built on a cliff edge — you can admire the canyon while answering nature's call. Near Chongqing's Hongya Cave, a high-tech "smart toilet" displays each stall's occupancy in real time while monitoring ammonia and hydrogen sulfide levels to automatically trigger ventilation.

城市公厕：导航就能找到

在大城市里找厕所曾经是一件碰运气的事。现在打开高德地图或百度地图，搜索"公厕"或"卫生间"，附近的公共厕所会像餐厅一样弹出来，还标注了距离、开放时间和用户评分。北京的"第5空间"公厕项目更是把公厕变成了社区服务站——除了如厕功能，还提供WiFi、ATM机、自动售货机，甚至图书借阅服务。

Finding a toilet in big cities used to be pure luck. Now open Amap or Baidu Maps, search "公厕" or "卫生间," and nearby public restrooms pop up like restaurants, complete with distance, hours, and user ratings. Beijing's "Fifth Space" public toilet project has transformed restrooms into community service stations — beyond their basic function, they offer WiFi, ATMs, vending machines, and even book-lending services.

上海在2023年底完成了全市公厕的"适老化"改造，增加了扶手、防滑地面和加大字体的标识。深圳的部分公厕配备了母婴室和儿童专用小号马桶。如果你担心在中国旅行的安全和便利问题，至少在如厕这件事上，大城市已经不需要你操心了。

Shanghai completed "elderly-friendly" renovations of all its public toilets by late 2023, adding handrails, non-slip flooring, and large-font signage. Some Shenzhen public toilets feature nursing rooms and child-sized toilets. If you're worried about safety and convenience while traveling in China, at least when it comes to restrooms, major cities have got you covered.

农村厕所：最难啃的硬骨头

城市的变化是显而易见的，但农村才是厕所革命的真正战场。根据国务院相关政策文件，到2025年东部地区和有条件的中西部地区农村卫生厕所普及率要达到90%以上。这意味着数以千万计的旱厕需要被改造成水冲式或无害化处理厕所。

Changes in cities are obvious, but rural areas are the true battlefield of the Toilet Revolution. According to State Council policy documents, by 2025 the rural sanitary toilet penetration rate should reach over 90% in eastern regions and qualified central-western areas. This means tens of millions of pit latrines need to be converted to flush or sanitary treatment toilets.

实际推进中困难重重。北方冬天气温低至零下二三十度，水管容易冻裂。西南山区地形复杂，铺设下水管道成本极高。有些老人用了一辈子旱厕，对新式马桶反而不习惯。但数据显示进步确实在发生——2023年全国农村卫生厕所普及率已超过73%，比2018年提高了约20个百分点。

Implementation has been fraught with challenges. In northern China, winter temperatures plunge to minus 20-30°C, easily cracking water pipes. In the mountainous southwest, complex terrain makes laying sewage pipes extremely costly. Some elderly residents who've used pit latrines their entire lives find modern toilets uncomfortable. But progress is real — by 2023, the national rural sanitary toilet penetration rate exceeded 73%, up about 20 percentage points from 2018.

给外国游客的如厕生存指南

你作为游客可能不会去改造农村的旱厕，但以下几条实用建议绝对能救你于水火之中。第一，永远随身带小包纸巾和湿巾——尽管大城市公厕已经大规模配备免费厕纸，但景区和小城镇仍然有不少"自备纸巾"的厕所。第二，学会使用蹲厕。很多公共场所同时提供蹲厕和坐厕，蹲厕通常更干净，也更符合节省预算的穷游方式——因为蹲厕隔间前的队伍总是短一些。

As a tourist you probably won't be renovating rural latrines, but the following tips could genuinely save your trip. First, always carry a small pack of tissues and wet wipes — though major cities have widely supplied free toilet paper, many scenic areas and smaller towns still operate on a "bring your own" basis. Second, learn to use squat toilets. Many public venues offer both squat and seated options; squat toilets are typically cleaner, and the queue is always shorter.

第三，下载一个中文地图App（高德或百度），"找厕所"功能比你想象的好用。第四，商场、酒店、肯德基和星巴克是永远的"紧急避难所"——走进去直奔卫生间，没人会拦你。第五，如果你在火车上，新型复兴号列车的厕所已经是坐式马桶加真空冲水了，但绿皮火车的厕所嘛……做好心理准备就行。

Third, download a Chinese map app (Amap or Baidu Maps) — the "find toilet" function works better than you'd imagine. Fourth, shopping malls, hotels, KFC, and Starbucks are perpetual "emergency shelters" — walk in and head straight for the restroom; no one will stop you. Fifth, if you're on a train, the newer Fuxing models already have seated toilets with vacuum flush. But the older green-skin trains… just mentally prepare yourself.

中国的厕所革命还在进行中，但对于一个十几亿人口的国家来说，这十年的变化已经称得上翻天覆地。下次有人再跟你抱怨中国公厕的时候，你可以告诉他：去看看奥林匹克公园的那座五星公厕吧。

China's Toilet Revolution is still underway, but for a nation of over 1.4 billion people, the transformation over the past decade has been nothing short of dramatic. Next time someone complains to you about Chinese public toilets, you can tell them: go check out that five-star restroom by Olympic Park.