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The stall door swings open, and there’s no seat. Just a porcelain basin set into the floor, two ridged footpads, and a hole. Your knees have questions. So does your phone, sitting in your back pocket.
Take a breath. To use a squat toilet, face the raised end if there is one, plant your feet on the ridged pads, lower your pants to your knees, and squat all the way down. When you’re done, check whether the paper goes in the bin, then flush. That’s it. The rest is practice, plus a few tricks that save you from the classic first-timer mistakes.
How to Use a Squat Toilet, Step by Step
1. Get ready before you go in. Carry your own tissues, because toilet paper isn’t guaranteed in public restrooms. Where there is paper, it’s often in one shared dispenser near the entrance or the sinks, not inside each stall, so grab some on the way in.
Move your phone, wallet, and keys out of your back pockets and into a front pocket or bag. Back pockets are where phones go to die. At busy sights, especially around national holidays, restroom lines get long, so go when you get the chance.
2. Pick the right door. Restroom signs show 男 (nán, men) and 女 (nǚ, women). Inside, many stall doors show a small icon of a squat toilet or a sitting one. If you prefer to sit, look for the sitting icon first.
3. Check which way the pan faces. Many squat pans have a raised, curved lip at one end, a little like a hood. If yours does, face it. On flatter pans, just center yourself over the opening, using the footpads as your guide.
4. Plant your feet on the ridged pads. Stand with a foot on each side of the basin, roughly shoulder-width apart. The ridges are there to stop you from slipping, so use them, and keep off the porcelain rim itself.
5. Pants to your knees, not the floor. Pull your pants and underwear down just to your knees and hold them forward, away from the basin. Long hems and loose coats can brush the floor, so roll or gather them up first.
6. Squat all the way down. Keep your heels flat if you can, and lean slightly forward for balance. Going lower is more stable than hovering halfway, and it keeps your aim where it should be.
7. Check where the paper goes. If there’s a bin beside the toilet or a sign asking you not to flush paper, use the bin. Plumbing varies, so follow the sign rather than guessing.
8. Find the flush. It might be a foot pedal, a button on the wall, a lever, a pull cord, or a sensor that flushes when you step away. Take a step back first. Squat toilets flush with enthusiasm.
Then wash up. Soap isn’t guaranteed everywhere, so a small bottle of hand sanitizer is worth carrying.
How Do Women Use a Squat Toilet?
The steps are the same, with a few adjustments that make it much easier.
In a skirt or dress, gather the fabric in front of you and hold it at your waist before you squat. The back is what tends to dip toward the floor.
In pants, lower them only to your knees and pull the waistband forward with one hand. That creates a clear gap and keeps everything dry.
For balance, squat fully, shift your weight slightly forward, and angle your hips a little back. Hovering halfway is harder on the legs and less accurate.
Bring a bag you can hang or hold. Hooks aren’t always there, and the floor is not where you want your bag. A crossbody bag solves this nicely.
Period products go in the bin, never down the drain.
How to Use a Squat Toilet With Bad Knees
If a deep squat hurts, don’t force it. You still have options.
Use a proper grab bar. If one is provided, lower yourself slowly and use the rail to help you back up, but skip doors, pipes, and anything else that isn’t built to hold your weight, especially on a wet floor.
Find a sitting toilet. In China’s cities, sitting toilets are far easier to find than they used to be. Try these first:
- Accessible stalls, marked wuzhang’ai (无障碍, accessible), are often your best bet for a sitting toilet.
- Malls, airports, hotels, and newer metro stations often have sitting toilets.
- Ask. Qingwen, you matong ma? (请问，有马桶吗？) means excuse me, is there a sitting toilet? Most people will point you the right way.
If you can squat without pain, practicing before a trip makes the first time much easier. The same simple moves that build an Asian squat loosen up ankles and hips that aren’t used to it.
Why Does China Still Have Squat Toilets?
To many people in China, a squat toilet simply feels cleaner because there’s no shared seat to touch. Habit matters too: generations grew up using them, and many people still find the position familiar. In busy public facilities, squat toilets are also practical and can be relatively inexpensive to install.
Since 2015, China has run a nationwide toilet revolution (厕所革命, cèsuǒ gémìng), building and upgrading public restrooms, especially at tourist sites. By early 2021, more than 130,000 tourist toilets at over 20,000 scenic spots could be found on the Amap map app. Many newer restrooms offer both squat and sitting toilets.
Some tourist sites have even experimented with paper dispensers you work by scanning your face or a QR code. It’s one of those very modern Chinese solutions to a very old problem.
Squat Toilets in Japan, Thailand, and Europe
The same basic steps work almost everywhere, with a few local twists.
Japan: Traditional squat toilets, called washiki, are much less common than they used to be, but you can still run into them at some older stations, parks, and public facilities. Face the raised hood at the front.
Thailand and Southeast Asia: You may find a handheld water sprayer, or at older squat toilets, a bucket and scoop for rinsing or flushing. Use the water to rinse, then pat dry with tissue if you have it.
Europe: Squat toilets are rare now, but not gone. You’re most likely to meet one in Turkey, and occasionally at older service stations in France or in older buildings in less touristy parts of Italy.
Useful Words for Finding a Restroom in China
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| Restroom | 洗手间 | xǐshǒujiān |
| Toilet | 厕所 | cèsuǒ |
| Men | 男 | nán |
| Women | 女 | nǚ |
| Where is the restroom? | 洗手间在哪里？ | Xǐshǒujiān zài nǎlǐ? |
| Is there a sitting toilet? | 请问，有马桶吗？ | Qǐngwèn, yǒu mǎtǒng ma? |
Men and women are two of the most useful Chinese words a first-time visitor can learn, right up there with restroom.
The first time is the strangest. By the third, you’ll be squatting with your phone safely zipped away, a tissue pack at the ready, and one less thing to worry about on your trip.
Read Next: More China Habits That Surprise Visitors
- Why Chinese People Drink Hot Water, Even in the Middle of Summer
- The Quiet Money Habits Behind How Much Chinese Families Save
- 996, Guanxi, and Why Work in China Feels So Different
- Hot Water, Congee, Mahjong: Why Gen Z Is Suddenly Chinamaxxing
Bookmark this before you fly. And for more of the small, practical, occasionally awkward things that make China easier to navigate, the Stellar Chinese newsletter sign-up is on this page.