Globalization’s next victim: Chinese toilets

February 25th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

It’s a conundrum Tom Friedman would love: At the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, lots of people are going to need to use the restroom. Many of these people will be from Western countries and Japan. Many of these people will be used to the customs in their countries, which involve sit-down toilets and the flushing of used toilet paper. These are not the Chinese customs.

Instead, Chinese people squat, and use toilet paper too thick for flushing purposes. When silly Westeners get their hands on these toilets, well, a quick glimpse at any communal bathroom in the U.S. will give you an idea of the potential for destruction. Gross.

Will the Westerners adjust? Or will China ditch its toilets and ass sandpaper and absorb yet another tenet of Western life? In either case, there have to be more sanitary ways to learn about globalization.