My first few visits to China clued me to the fact that here, toilet paper reigns supreme. You can go into a restaurant and see toilet paper on the dining tables – that is how you know you are in a fairly well to do joint. Two-ply toilet paper is used pretty much anywhere and for anything: as napkins, as a first aid supply, as facial tissue, as a quick clean up assistant.
Before moving here, I wondered about the use of toilet paper everywhere. Was it just more economical than paper towels? Easier to stock than Kleenex? A less complicated inventory item than paper napkins?
After moving here, my first few ventures into Chinese grocery stores still did not convince me of the significance of toilet paper. The mere fact that there was no other type of paper goods to be bought – no napkins, paper towels, facial tissues or the like – did not shock me out of my Western mindset that there must be a more durable form of paper goods available somewhere in this country. I just thought it was because I live in this tiny neck of the woods that only toilet paper was sold, with or without cardboard spindles. Five local stores where not even mouthwash is stocked: what else am I to think?
One of the grocery stores near campus actually stocks paper towel holders, with the legend written in English: Paper Towel Dispenser. I searched that store frantically for 30 minutes, looking for paper towels to fit that dispenser until I realized that the dispenser was meant to accommodate 2 rolls of toilet paper, side by side.
My trip to Carrefour is what finally convinced me to abandon any hope of finding any type of durable paper goods. In this megastore, where I could in fact find various types of mouthwash including Listerine, there was an entire aisle of paper goods: 24 different brands of toilet paper, packaged in various denominations. You could go for economy –8 rolls; for a low-key approach – 4 rolls; a long-term approach – 12 rolls; or the showoff’s selection – 24 rolls WITH cardboard spindle. That variety is for those who don’t care how much they spend. Finally there was the Jumbo Roll selection. The rolls weren’t oversized or double-thick, they were one and a half times the width of standard toilet paper, and you can buy them 8 or 12 rolls at a time; no cardboard spindle for extra economy.
Maybe that is what is meant to be put into the aforementioned paper towel dispenser.
I have gotten used to a life of toilet paper. I look for toilet paper on restaurant tables before I decide to eat at any certain establishment. Bonus points are accorded if the toilet paper is in a plastic, stand up variety dispenser with a cover and extra credit is given if a sheet of toilet paper is showing, but I will settle for a roll of paper on the table, with or without cardboard spindles (usually without).
Although I do have sharp pangs in the kitchen as I long for non-existent paper towels, I have adjusted to using toilet paper for what I would normally use a whole paper towel for: wiping down countertops, cleaning up spills, even wiping the excess oil up after seasoning my wok.
You would think that the prevalence of toilet paper would mean that, come privacy time, there would be abundant paper available, right?
Let me caution you right now: if you come to China, be prepared to provide your own toilet paper for any restroom excursions. In the finer establishments (and on certain trains) you will find one toilet paper dispenser, industrial sized, mounted on the wall somewhere by the door to the restroom, before you hit the stalls. There will usually be no paper in it. Do not look for paper or dispensers in the stalls, there will be none.
If you are so lucky as to find a centrally installed toilet paper dispenser in such places, remember that that paper is to serve both as toilet paper while using the facilities and as paper towels to dry your hands on after you are finished washing your hands. Please do not take too much of this paper, as one roll is supposed to accommodate all of that evening’s patrons. Proper etiquette is to take about 3 sheets into the stall with you, and then use another 3 or 4 sheets to dry your hands after washing them.
Finally: although there is a proliferation of toilet paper everywhere except in restroom stalls and its uses are many, under no circumstance are you to dispose of used toilet paper in the toilet when you are done performing that most intimate act. China’s sewer system is too delicate to withstand wads of soggy toilet paper clogging it. Instead you are to throw your used toilet paper in the trashcan provided in each stall. If there is no trashcan in the stall, it is perfectly acceptable to throw your used toilet paper in a corner, preferably the corner that already boasts the discarded paper of previous patrons. There is usually a custodian available to sweep up your discards after every few patrons. Usually.
Would someone please send me a care package with some paper towels and some more Wet Ones moist towelettes? To me, those are now worth more than gold.
Thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment