Chinese public toilets go hi-tech with Wi-fi and facial recognition

Two more cities in China have installed a raft of technology in some of their public toilets – with one fitting facial recognition equipment – as part of a nationwide campaign to improve the quality of public conveniences, dubbed the “toilet revolution” in Chinese media.

Facial recognition equipment had been installed at a public toilet at a sports centre in Changsha in Hunan province, the news website Rednet.cn reported.

Each person scanning their face received 40cm of toilet paper from a dispenser, the report said.

The aim is to stop each user taking too much - and crack down on theft of paper. 

Sensors in toilet cubicles will also issue an alert an attendant if somebody has been inside for more than 10 minutes, according to the report.

“When the screen shows one is occupied for more than 10 minutes, we will go and check [if anything is wrong,” cleaner Liu Zhengde said. There is also a button in each toilet in case the user has an emergency, Liu was quoted as saying. 

Elderly Chinese toilet paper thieves face up to their crimes

The toilets, which have received more than 20,000 people since the facilities opened in January, also provides free Wi-fi and mobile phone chargers. A screen on the wall shows the temperature, humidity and total volumes of water and electricity consumed in the building and how long each cubicle has been occupied.

A deputy head at the district’s environment and sanitation bureau said: “Through the toilet revolution we want to change residents’ concept [about public conveniences] and improve living conditions.” 

About 30 public toilets in a district of Chongqing had also been fitted with toilet paper dispensers that provided 80cm of paper when a user scanned a code on the machine with their mobile phone, the Chongqing Times reported on Thursday. 

Most of China’s public toilets did not provide paper, in part because of theft, the report said.

The district government is expanding the technology to 150 toilets. Deodorising devices are also to be fitted in toilet cubicles, according to the report.

Chinese media reported in March last year that dispensers in toilets at the Temple of Heaven tourist site in Beijing had been fitted with facial recognition technology to stop people lining up multiple times to steal toilet paper. 

China’s public bathroom blitz goes nationwide as Xi Jinping rallies forces in the ‘toilet revolution’

Chinese President Xi Jinping said in November that public toilets throughout the country – from rural villages to urban areas – should be upgraded to help improve living standards.

China started a three-year campaign in 2015 to improve the standard of public toilets at tourist sites around the country.