Imagine that when you go to a public toilet, a stopwatch displays for everyone to see your time spent inside. This is already the case on this tourist site, discover it and the reasons given in the face of the outcry…
Going to the toilet with a stopwatch where your time is counted live? This may seem absurd, but it is indeed the case in the toilets of a famous tourist site. For well-being, safety or just to control the time of each user? The concept is criticized and raises many comments…
“I found it to be quite advanced technology, since there is no need to queue outside or knock on the toilet door,” says a visitor.But I also found it a little awkward. I felt like I was being watched.” Indeed, each door has its own digital counter, displayed on a red LED screen. The time indicated is the time since it was last locked. These are the toilets of a UNESCO site where you can find 50,000 statues carved in stone from a place dating back 1,500 years.
Your time is running out!
Timers have been installed in the women’s toilets in the Yungang Grottoes scenic area in Shanxi, China.
It is said that this is a way to cope with the increasing number of visitors to the Yungang Grottoes and the fact that the toilets in the scenic area pic.twitter.com/TBs5htrLrQ
— Inconvenient Truths by Jennifer Zeng (@jenniferzeng97) June 9, 2024
The managers of this tourist spot say that it is a way to manage the flow of visitors.They were not installed to monitor the duration of toilet use.“, one member told the local magazine XioaXiang Morning Herald. “There is no way we would kick someone out (of the toilet) on the way. And we do not set a time limit, such as five or ten minutes, for using the toilet.“.
This tourist site is in the northeast of China, in the Yungang Grottoes. In 2023, more than 3 million visitors came to visit them. According to the Nanchang Evening Newsthis measure allows “to ensure the well-being of all guests, in case some of them use the toilet for an extended period of time and an emergency occurs.”
However, not all Internet users seem convinced.Who would spend their time in the toilet? Is it really necessary”, “Why don’t they spend money on building more toilets ?”. In 2020, a company in Beijing was criticized for putting stopwatches in their office toilets…