Imagine that when you go to a public toilet, a stopwatch displays your time spent inside for everyone to see. This is already the case on this tourist site, discover it and the reasons given in the face of the outcry…
Go 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, security 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 bit awkward. I felt like I was being watched.” In fact, each door has its own digital counter, displayed on a red LED screen. The time indicated is that since its last lock. These are the toilets of a UNESCO site where you can find 50,000 statues carved into the stone of a place dating back 1500 years ago.
Your time is counted!
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
Those in charge of this tourist spot say that it is a way of managing the flow of visitors. “They were not installed to control the duration of toilet use“, says a member to the local magazine XioaXiang Morning Herald. “There’s no way we’re going to kick someone out (of the restroom) along 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 will come to visit them. According to the Nanchang Evening Newsthis measure makes it possible 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, Internet users do not all seem convinced. “Who would spend their time in the toilet? Is it really necessary”, “Why don’t they spend money to build more toilets ?” In 2020, a company in Beijing was criticized for putting stopwatches in the toilets of their offices…
