Rural areas say hello to modern facilities

SHIJIAZHUANG - For months, Feng Xiumin's house in Yueliang village, Hebei province has been a "must see" for visiting relatives and friends. The first thing they want is the "toilet tour".

"When they arrive, they all say, Let us see your fancy, high-end toilet!" Feng said.

Feng's "fancy, high-end toilet" is one of the vacuum models authorities installed for Yueliang residents. By May, all the village's toilets had been replaced with vacuum designs, with no more of the stinky, fly-infested, dry squat toilets with tanks underneath that were used in the past. When the project was completed, more than 400 families lit firecrackers to celebrate.