See how smart a public toilet can be

Finding a toilet, especially a clean one, is not always easy. But thanks to the toilet revolution now underway in China, those days are numbered. The "smart toilet" may be coming to a public restroom near you.

The first batch of smart public toilets were put into use in May in Nanchang County, located in east China's Jiangxi Province. There you will see that a public toilet is not just clean and neat, but also smart.

At the entrance, a screen shows how many toilets are occupied and how many are available. All the toilets are arranged in a semicircle, with men's on the left and women's on the right.

What's smarter is that the six toilets in the middle can switch to being either men's or women's toilets when the system notices that more toilets are needed for either gender.

In this case, being smart also means being both convenient and environmentally friendly. If a user scans his or her face, he or she can get toilet paper through a machine. Each user can do this only once in ten minutes, which helps to avoid wasting toilet paper.

An electronic screen shows the status of the toilets, with green meaning available and red meaning occupied. [Photo: CGTN]

The toilet also highlights special needs, with a baby care room and a third bathroom which is for disabled people and children. There are two very cute small toilets with grab handles and a small sink just for kids.

Insect killing lamps and perfume spray machines also make the use of the toilet more enjoyable. "It's very clean and I don't see any water spots on the sink," said a male user who had just walked out from this toilet.

Residents can also find toilets through some mobile phone APPs. Walking to the nearest toilet should not take more than ten minutes. "It always took me a long time to find a toilet in the past. Now I can easily find one through a map APP on my mobile phone," said a female user.

A weekly report is also made about the usage of this public toilet, providing references for better management.

"Since 2018, Nanchang County has invested 250 million yuan to build and rebuild 1,200 public toilets, covering rural and urban areas and scenic spots. We also encourage government offices along the streets to open their toilets to the public," said Fu Xiangyu, deputy county chief of Nanchang County.

Nanchang County is among several locations across Jiangxi Province that have been pushing the toilet revolution. By October, Jiangxi had built and rebuilt over 5,400 public toilets, and 370,000 in rural households.