What is a brief history of the toilet？

According to the "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes", the Han court made a "tiger son" from jade, which was held by the emperor's attendants for the emperor's convenience at any time. This kind of "tiger son" is the special utensils called toilets and pots by later generations, and it is also the predecessor of the toilet. It is said that this kind of "tiger son" was also invented by the great ancestor Liu Bang who used the crown of Confucianism as a drowning device.

There is another theory about the invention of "Huzi", which is also related to the emperor. According to legend, Li Guang, a "flying general" in the Western Han Dynasty, shot a crouching tiger to death, and let people cast a bronze drowning tool in the shape of a tiger, and put urine in it to express his contempt for the tiger. This is the origin of the name "Tiger Son". The emperor of the Tang Dynasty changed the disrespectful noun to "beast child" or "horse child" because of his ancestors named "Li Hu", and later commonly known as "toilet" and "urinal".

The first detailed written record of the toilet was the "trojan horse" in Ouyang Xiu's "Returning to the Field II" in the Northern Song Dynasty, which was explained as "wooden toilet" in "Ciyuan". The toilet used by ancient Chinese folk is a round wooden bucket with a lid, which is painted with tung oil or good waterproof vermilion paint.

In 1596, the English nobleman John Harrington invented the first practical toilet - a wooden seat with a tank and flush valve.

In 1778, British inventor Joseph Brahme improved the design of the flush toilet, using such as a three-ball valve to control the flow of water in the tank, and a U-shaped elbow.

Toilets began to improve dramatically in the 19th century when the British government enacted laws requiring every house to have a proper sewerage system installed.

In 1861, a British plumber Thomas Kleipa invented an advanced water-saving flushing system, and waste discharge began to enter the modern period.

In 1885, Thomas Turwefort patented the first all-ceramic toilet in the UK, and dozens of patents for improvements have been granted every year since. In 1914, the Qixin Ceramics Factory (the predecessor of Tangshan Ceramics Factory) opened by the British in Tangshan produced the first ceramic toilet in China.

In Shanghai in the 1930s, when the morning light first appeared, many people would rub their sleepy eyes, walk out of the house one by one carrying the toilet, and then queue up in front of a public tap.

In the 1860s, flush toilets became popular in Europe and the United States, and later spread to Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea.

In the early 1980s, it was only found in Beijing's high-end hotels, but now it is used in Beijing's toilets.