The bathroom question, answered

Let's get the awkward part over early. Many public toilets in China are squat-style. In older buildings and smaller towns that can mean the cubicle door is a half-height partition, or that there's no door at all — which is how visitors end up with an accidental view they weren't looking for. It's not a hygiene judgement and it's not a sign you've wandered somewhere rough. It's ordinary, and it's mixed in with sit-down cubicles in the same building.

What's usually there, and what isn't

• Toilet paper: bring your own. Public toilets often don't provide it, and the dispenser outside the cubicles, where it exists, isn't guaranteed. A small pack of tissues in the day bag solves it permanently.
• Soap: sometimes. Hand sanitiser is the local habit for a reason.
• Signage is mostly pictorial. Nobody needs to read the characters to work out which door is which.

Where the Western toilets hide

Shopping malls — reliably, on every floor, and usually the cleanest option in any district. Large hotels, their lobbies included, even when you're not a guest. Big train stations and airports. Fast-food chains and coffee shops. Museums and new tourist sites. If a toilet matters right now, walk into the nearest mall; that's what everyone local does too.

The other half of the story

Chinese cities are not short of toilets. They're signposted, free, and common in metro stations, parks and along shopping streets — in many ways easier to find than in most European city centres. The squat fixture is the only thing to get used to, and it takes one attempt.