These will be in short supply at Expo....

The always excellent and meticulous WorldExpoBlog just reposted this article from Shanghai Daily containing the rather amusing line: "Toilets are expected to be more popular than Expo pavilions."

Misuse of the word "popular" aside, the article provides a long list of "fun facts," one of which is decidedly much less fun than others: 80% of toilets on the Expo site will be squatters.

You hear that? Yes, that's the sound of Shanghai expats heard screaming for miles. As Kurtz so aptly puts it in Heart of Darkness "The horror!"

No doubt you're asking yourself why the Shanghai Expo organizing committee has settled on such a lop-sided ratio. Simple math backs the reasoning here, foreigners and the elderly, the demographic that most appreciates the sit-down version you find in fine hotels, and for the most part their own homes, are just a tiny slice of the pie; Chinese prefer squatters.

The thing is, much of the mass urban renewal being undertaken in the city is aimed not only at recasting Shanghai as a model for a "Better City, Better Life," but also at beautifying Shanghai for prying foreign eyes. Please forgive the graphic nature of the next sentence, but, don't the urine-pool collecting pits of eternal stench we know as "squatters" work in a fashion diametrically opposed to that goal?

I mean, visitors have a four-out-of-five chance of landing themselves in a squatter, and if it hasn't been cleaned in an hour, it will, after a constant stream of users in the summer heat, probably create a bit of disconnect in unfortunate users' minds.

Just imagine, one second you're surrounded by advanced, clean, green technology, and cutting edge architecture, the next you're holding you're breath struggling not to let hour-old pee soak through your shoes à la third world outhouse. God forbid you're wearing flip flops...

Considering the availability of modern alternatives like sit-down toilets with automatic seat-lining replacers, Chinese paranoia about ex tempore bum touching would be entirely mitigated, there would be no pee on the floor, no stench in the air, a better impression for everyone, and all at the low, low cost of a few hundred tons of liner material—which could be sourced from recyclables, no?

Oh well, let's hope that at least they mark the toilets to show people what they're in for!

Read the rest of WorldExpoBlog and all their "fun facts" here.

For our own take on the whole thing see our dedicated Expo forum page.

More Shanghai Expo 2010 related content on ChinaTravel.net:

Photo post: Shanghai Expo Pavilions, Park nearing completion
Sneak peek: Delectable dishes at Expo 2010 Czech Pavilion
Shanghai Expo 2010 tickets: How to buy Expo tickets in Shanghai 
Shanghai Expo: Visit the expo using the Metro