China has recently introduced toilet timers at the Yungang Buddhist Grottoes. According to reports, Yungang Buddhist Grottoes in Shanxi Province, China, is an ancient Buddhist temple where there are more than 200 caves and thousands of statues of Buddha. It has been given the status of World Heritage by UNESCO. The public toilets built here have timers installed on them. The timer tells how long the door has been closed, that is how long a person has been inside the bathroom. The restroom is ’empty’ or not is written on the timer installed above it.
An employee who works here shared in a media interaction that these timers have been installed for the convenience of tourists visiting there. Many times, tourists spend more time in the bathroom than is necessary. If something happens to them inside the bathroom or an emergency situation arises, then they can be saved in such a situation. This timer has been installed for the safety of tourists.
While another worker added that these timers will not fix the time for using the bathroom. One can take as much time as they want; it will only show for how long the door has been closed. In this way, people present outside will not need to knock on the door unnecessarily. The workers said that it is not the case that anyone will be thrown out of the bathroom if it is too late, nor will the timer fix the time limit.
Even after so much explanation by the workers, there were demands for its removal. The tourists visiting there say that they feel as if their privacy is being violated. They are not satisfied with the fact that their time spent inside the bathroom is being recorded. They feel that this is a very embarrassing thing.
The massive Yungang Buddhist grottoes were cut from the mid-5th century to the early-6th century AD. Comprising 252 caves and niches and 51,000 statues within a carved area of 18,000 square metres, the Yungang Grottoes represent the outstanding achievement of Buddhist cave art in China.
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