Hong Kong's 'Dr Toilet' Champions Public Restroom Hygiene.

18 hours ago7 min read5 comments

To most people, a public restroom is merely a functional space, a necessary pause in the day's narrative, but for Henry Hung Chi-kuen, it is the very text of his life's work, a story written in porcelain and plumbing. At 78, with over six decades spent in the trenches of the drainage industry, Hung doesn't just fix toilets; he communes with them, his enthusiasm bubbling forth as he recounts his global pilgrimages to public facilities.'Wherever I go around the world, the first place I go is the public toilet,' he shares with the unbridled passion of someone discussing a favorite museum or a beloved park, a testament to a perspective that finds profound meaning in the mundane. His desk is not just a workspace but a shrine to this dedication, curated with toilet-themed souvenirs from countless countries, each a tangible memory of a community's approach to this most private of public services.This isn't mere eccentricity; it is the foundation of his identity as 'Dr. Toilet,' a title earned not in a medical school but in the gritty reality of sanitation systems, a founding member and president of an organization dedicated to elevating the standards of public hygiene.His journey speaks to a universal, yet often unspoken, human experience—the quiet anxiety of encountering a dirty facility, the small relief of finding a clean one. It’s a story about dignity, about the societal contract that suggests even our most basic needs should be met with a degree of care and respect.In listening to Henry, one hears the echoes of countless others whose daily rhythms are subtly shaped by the state of these shared spaces, from the parent with a frantic child to the commuter on a tight schedule. His obsession is, at its heart, a deep form of empathy, an understanding that public health and civic pride are often first reflected in the tiles and taps of a well-maintained washroom, a quiet advocacy for a corner of the world that is too easily ignored yet so fundamentally important to the fabric of our collective well-being.

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#Hong Kong

#public toilets

#sanitation

#Dr Toilet

#infrastructure

#plumbing

#urban planning