The Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi Province, China has 252 caves, 51,000 Buddha statues, millions of visitors, status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site—and digital timers counting how long you’ve been in the restroom.
The timers, which show red digital counters showing how long each stall has been occupied, or green to show it’s empty, have gotten worldwide publicity after a visitor posted a video on social media.
A state-owned local newspaper in the area says it was told by a park employee that the timers were a response to an increase in the number of visitors, but were not meant to control how long visitors spent there.
“They aren’t there to control the durations you could use the bathrooms,” the staff member was quoted by the newspaper as saying. “It’s impossible that we would kick someone out [of the bathroom stall] midway. And we aren’t setting a time limit such as five or 10 minutes of how long one could use the toilets.”
But… if not, then why?
