Toilets! You will want to know how to recognize which toilet is for your sex and how to read the characters "public toilet". You don't have to be able to read Chinese - it is pattern recognition. Stare at the male and female a while, or copy them repeatedly on paper. Be sure you carry toilet paper with you.

"Nu" is the character for female. It is said to resemble the figure of a woman. Nan" is the character for male. Note the stocky build and big head. Most upscale hotels and restaurants will have a toilet. There are two flavors of toilets, "Western style" and "Asian style". Westerners sit and Asians squat. Do be prepared to do some squatting, as sometimes there is no choice.

We have discovered that often in a row of toilets that the last one may be a Western toilet. On occasion we have stopped in towns at a hotel and have had our student ask to use their toilets. They send us to a room that has a Western toilet.

China recognizes that they need to upgrade their toilets, especially for the upcoming Olympics in Beijing. They will upgrade some 40,000.