For many tourists visiting mainland China from developed countries, public toilets in China notoriously known for their stench and filth have long been an inevitable trial of anxiety and horror.

To address the issue that threatened to damage the reputation of the country's tourism industry, which earned about RMB 3.9 trillion (~S$795 billion) last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared a nationwide "toilet revolution" in 2015 to improve the standard of public toilets at tourist sites across the country.

The all-important toilet issue

But the latest campaign is about improving the bathroom experience for the domestic populations.

Official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday (Nov. 27) that Xi said public toilets throughout the country — from rural villages to urban areas — should be upgraded to help improve living standards, as the toilet issue is an important aspect of building civilised cities and countrysides.

He urged the country to keep up steady efforts to “revolutionize” its toilets until the task is completed,

“The toilet issue is no small thing, it’s an important aspect of building civilized cities and countryside”

"This work must be a concrete part of advancing our country's revitalizing strategy and we must make great efforts to fill these shortcomings that affect the quality of life of the masses."

Xi had earlier redefined the "principal contradiction" facing Chinese society for the first time since 1981, saying the current need was not just for more growth, but more equal growth to satisfy people's desire for a "nice life".

Since coming to power in 2012, Xi has often visited homes in the countryside to see if the locals still use pit toilets that lack plumbing, while stressing that village modernisation requires sanitary toilets.

The central government had injected more than RMB 1 billion (~S$204 million) into the overhaul, revamping more than 68,000 public toilets which far exceeds its 3-year goal of 57,000.

China's National Tourism Administration (CNTA) recently announced plans to build and upgrade 64,000 toilets between 2018 and 2020.

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Public toilets still far from global standards

However, even though the 3-year campaign is almost complete, it's still far from global standards.

Many old public toilets in China are made up of just rows of pits or communal trenches separated by low walls with no doors nor privacy — let alone any soap or toilet paper.

Also, even with the revamping of toilet facilities, the poor toilet etiquette of locals poses a problem.

Photographs of people stealing toilet paper from public bathrooms at the Temple of Heaven, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Beijing, went viral online, with some offenders making several trips a day to stock up.

The toilets there were promoted to tourists as "star toilets".

To put an end to such exploitation, the park had to resort to facial recognition technology using wall-mounted decives with a high definition camera in its toilets.

Users in need of toilet paper must stand in front of the machine for a face scan, and each user will only get 60 cm of paper every 9 minutes.

Top image via Youtube.