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Showering with the Locals in China
by Sarah Yang
      

Excerpts:

“Try not to talk much. If they find out you’re not local, they’ll start asking questions.” These instructions from my boyfriend Yudong stayed with me every time I visited one of China’s gonggong yushi, the place where the majority of China’s residents, whose homes have no running hot water, pay one yuan for a shower. Yudong stressed that discovery of my foreign status would lead to my eviction from the premises, for the gonggong yushi is a world into which foreigners are not invited. Not only do the dark, steam-filled rooms with mildewed walls evoke images of imprisonment, but the density of people surrounding the bather as she engages in one of the more private of personal hygiene rituals is intrusive to Western notions of personal space. I welcomed the experience as a chance to commiserate with my Chinese friends who frequented the gonggong yushi, to say to them, “I’ve been there and I know how you feel.”

My entrance into the gonggong yushi seemed easy. My Chinese face enabled me to pass through many gates in the comfort of an anonymity other non-natives cannot easily obtain. With misplaced pride, I thought I would easily blend in.

I did not expect the intimidation I felt when I stepped into the high-ceilinged 45- by 60-foot shower room and saw more than 150 women sharing fewer than 100 showerheads. . . .

 

 

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