Toilets in many rural areas of China are shabby and in poor condition because of a lack of tap water and drain outlet facilities. Things started to change with a toilet reform program starting in October 2016.

Toilets in fifty cities and towns in Jilin province were under reconstruction in 2016 and about 100,000 villagers are able to use flush toilets now.

"Pedestal pans, water pipes, and water pumps are installed inside the house and the conditions have become much better than before," Yao Qingshan, a local villager in Jilin province, said.

It cost Yao very little money to finish the rebuilding as the local government had offered subsidies.

Another villager Jin Zhongri said the reconstructed indoor toilets are clean and are no longer smelly in the summer.

"It is convenient and warm to have use of an indoor toilet," said Zou Zhiping, a villager in Hongwei Village, Changchun City. "My parents are getting older and older. I worry when they use an outdoor toilet at night, particularly in winter."

Zhao Hui, chief economic manager of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People's Republic of China (MOHURD), said in November 2016, that the rural toilet reform would be an important mission for the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan.