Fading Life - The Smug Toilet

Author: Zha Xi Liu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: For centuries, the toilet has been integrated into people's lives, forming a unique culture of convenience for a specific period. Even when getting a haircut, the barber would ask: "Do you want a suit-style, flat-top, or toilet-style?" The starting point of the industry is naturally the toilet manufacturing industry, while emptying toilets and collecting manure belong to the service industry. According to modern scientific terms, the former is the secondary industry and upstream industry, while the latter is the tertiary industry and downstream industry. Clearly, the use of bucket sludge as medicine and the comprehensive utilization of manure belong to the easily overlooked yet profitable extended and marginal industries. If we delve deeper, the research, sales, and maintenance of toilets are undoubtedly indispensable parts of this industry chain. Like other industries, the market competition in the toilet industry has given rise to centralized business models. Under the framework of the manure collection service industry, countless sanitation workers are at the lowest level. In Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s, the number was as high as 5,000; those who owned hundreds of manure carts could become the "manure king" of a certain territory, collecting rents, while the more powerful ones grew into leaders of groups like the Northern Jiangsu Gang and the Jiangnan Gang; and the underworld thrived in this environment, operating with ease. This scenario is no different from the popular trades of that time and today. Similarly, the centralized business model in the toilet manufacturing industry was also taking shape. In the Ming Dynasty, the wealthy merchant Shen Wansan gathered skilled craftsmen in Nanjing's southern suburbs, and specialized toilet workshops flourished. It can be said that the germination of capitalism had already emerged in the toilet industry centuries ago. A glimpse into a bucket reveals the whole picture. The study of toilets is vast and profound. If you delve deeper, you will be surprised to discover its clever application of human engineering and its unique contributions to military science. Of course, the perspective of observing a bucket varies from person to person. This book provides a comprehensive scan of the toilet industry, built on the six years of effort of Mr. Zha Xi Liu. With his innovative vision, you will gain more benefits and will look again and again.