For decades, many families in older Shanghai neighborhoods lived without private bathrooms. A simple daily task meant carrying waste buckets outdoors every day, rain or shine.
Today, that chapter is coming to an end. Through housing renovation projects, more families now have indoor bathrooms, running water and improved living conditions.
For many residents, the change is simple but life-changing: less inconvenience, greater comfort and more dignity, especially for older residents.
A man carries a chamber pot in older Shanghai neighborhoods in 2018. /VCG
This photo taken in April, 2021 shows an old neighborhood in Shanghai. /VCG
On August 31, 2008, a worker installed a flush toilet in the home of Ms. Fan, who had lived in Shanghai's old neighborhoods for more than 50 years. /VCG
A resident wipes a flush toilet after the toilet renovation project in Yangpu District, east China's Shanghai, October 29, 2025. /Xinhua
This photo taken on October 31, 2025 shows the construction site of a sewage pipeline renovation project in an old neighborhood in east China's Shanghai. /Xinhua
This photo taken on December 7, 2024 shows an old neighborhood in Shanghai after the completion of a housing renovation project. /VCG