Hover a line for its pinyin and translation; hover a word for its meaning. Tap 🔊 to hear it.
Generate a brand-new dialog on any topic, using this lesson's 0 vocab words — plus any words you add below.
Sign in to generate dialogues. It needs a pass — the first ten lessons of every course are free either way.
Chamber pots in Shanghai lanes
Most shikumen houses were built without flush toilets or sewer connections. For generations, residents used 马桶, chamber pots, which were emptied each morning into carts collected by night-soil workers and then scrubbed in the lane. The sound and smell of it are among the most common memories of lane life. From the 1980s and 1990s, the city carried out large programs to install toilets in old housing, and many households partitioned space for one themselves. But in the oldest and most crowded lanes there was often no room, and some households were still using chamber pots in the 2010s and beyond. The lack of a private bathroom has been one of the strongest reasons residents give for welcoming relocation. Showing this is part of what Alex means: a film that shows only beautiful old doorways tells half the story.