They say that a picture speaks a thousand words and in order to explain today’s China lesson I had a lot of fun trying to capture this photo to illustrate my point. It was quite a task, since it is a sensitive area, I had to be discrete (hard task when you’re as bright and white as I am!) and I didn’t want to be seen as some crazy weirdo pervert… Keep reading, this will make sense in a while!
As seems to be the theme with this blog, there are so many differences East to West and the majority of which are something that I deal with quite well, I’d say. Sure, sometimes I do want to jump on the first plane out of here and head to the ‘normality’ of Europe, but on the whole I do not too badly and am always a good sport trying to acclimatize a bit.
Perhaps though where I feel very western, a bit prudish and really uncomfortable being in China is anything to do with bathroom behaviour. Squatties not potties, footprints on toilet seats, witnessing people do their business with the door wide open, lack of paper, disregard of hand-washing and very loud, honest and open farting (for lack of a better word) are all things I have had to just deal with. We are all human and we do all have to go, so I guess the Chinese openness kind of makes sense once I get my head around my upbringing and ingrained manners.
The vast differences in all things toilet here in China versus my very prissy, conservative and reserved British ways, starts from a very early age. It starts indeed with babies and I am amazed and ever so slightly in awe at what can be seen in the photo. Chinese babies, or rather the ones not yet ‘westernised’, do not wear nappies.
You see these little rugrats with trousers with slits up the back, bare naked bottoms exposed to the world and at the ready to be held by their parents to relieve themselves in parks, in street gutters or even (and I kid you not!) on the grass at the Olympic stadium in Beijing. I was totally freaked out to see all these bare bottoms and kids randomly peeing everywhere and felt it was something I had to get to the (pun unintended) bottom of.
As seems to be the theme with this blog, there are so many differences East to West and the majority of which are something that I deal with quite well, I’d say. Sure, sometimes I do want to jump on the first plane out of here and head to the ‘normality’ of Europe, but on the whole I do not too badly and am always a good sport trying to acclimatize a bit.
Perhaps though where I feel very western, a bit prudish and really uncomfortable being in China is anything to do with bathroom behaviour. Squatties not potties, footprints on toilet seats, witnessing people do their business with the door wide open, lack of paper, disregard of hand-washing and very loud, honest and open farting (for lack of a better word) are all things I have had to just deal with. We are all human and we do all have to go, so I guess the Chinese openness kind of makes sense once I get my head around my upbringing and ingrained manners.
The vast differences in all things toilet here in China versus my very prissy, conservative and reserved British ways, starts from a very early age. It starts indeed with babies and I am amazed and ever so slightly in awe at what can be seen in the photo. Chinese babies, or rather the ones not yet ‘westernised’, do not wear nappies.
You see these little rugrats with trousers with slits up the back, bare naked bottoms exposed to the world and at the ready to be held by their parents to relieve themselves in parks, in street gutters or even (and I kid you not!) on the grass at the Olympic stadium in Beijing. I was totally freaked out to see all these bare bottoms and kids randomly peeing everywhere and felt it was something I had to get to the (pun unintended) bottom of.
Talking to Chinese friends and colleagues they’ve enlightened me that it’s better for the baby’s bottom to be aired, it’s better to train them as soon as possible, it is the way things have always been done and it’s Confucianism at it’s purest. Perhaps though the reason for this is more financial than anything what with diapers costing a lot of money. Regardless of reasons, it’s amazing.
I’ve babysat enough kids throughout the years to know that potty training is a nightmare so this really makes you think ‘how on earth is that possible?’ There’s a whistle and a grunt noise involved apparently and babies are laboriously trained to go on demand, but am not really sure how it works to be honest. Feel it is worthy of note though, and if we could get over our prejudices against anything toilet related in the west, just imagine how eco-friendly, cheap and convenient this would be?!
Am stunned every time I see this, so my Chinese lesson of the day is: 褯 jiè – which means diaper, or nappy.
I’ve babysat enough kids throughout the years to know that potty training is a nightmare so this really makes you think ‘how on earth is that possible?’ There’s a whistle and a grunt noise involved apparently and babies are laboriously trained to go on demand, but am not really sure how it works to be honest. Feel it is worthy of note though, and if we could get over our prejudices against anything toilet related in the west, just imagine how eco-friendly, cheap and convenient this would be?!
Am stunned every time I see this, so my Chinese lesson of the day is: 褯 jiè – which means diaper, or nappy.
seriously?
ReplyDeleteI didn't know this character. ;)
There's a western variant of this too, called elimination communication. Not involving pants split up the back, but using signals to enable the carer to get the baby over a potty when the need arises. I haven't been doing it with my daughter, but I have several friends who do it.
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