The Oldest Mobile Toilet in China

Currently, there is no clear archaeological evidence that can directly identify a specific instance of the 'oldest' mobile toilet in China. However, during the Han Dynasty, there were various sanitary appliances with mobile characteristics that can be regarded as early forms of mobile toilets.

From archaeological discoveries, it is evident that there were multiple types of movable sanitary appliances during the Han Dynasty. The lacquered wooden box with a layered design unearthed at the archaeological site of the Lizhouao Eastern Zhou tomb in Jing'an, Jiangxi, had a lower-layer square box with a lid, which was speculated by the archaeological team leader to be an ancient 'mobile toilet'. However, this speculation still requires more evidence to support it, but it reflects that there might have been design ideas for appliances similar to mobile toilets at that time.

The bronze 'huzi' (bedpan) used by Han Dynasty nobles was designed with portability in mind. It was small in size and easy to carry, meeting people's needs to solve excretion problems anytime during the night or while traveling. From the perspective of function and usage scenarios, it can be regarded as a form of 'mobile toilet'.

In addition, there were other mobile-related discoveries in sanitary facilities during the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty imperial palace had stone toilets with armrests. Although they might not have been entirely designed for mobility, they to some extent reflected the pursuit of comfort and convenience in sanitary appliances at that time. The陶制 (earthenware) toilet rings that could be transported as a whole were unearthed from the Yangfutou Han tomb in Sichuan. This characteristic of being transportable as a whole endowed them with the basic features of mobile toilets. A mobile toilet house with an axle was discovered in an Inner Mongolian Han tomb, which directly indicates that there was already practice in designing toilets to be movable at that time. Through the design of the axle, the toilet house could be moved between different locations, meeting people's sanitary needs during travel or specific activities.

However, if we take the archaeologically confirmed flush-type fixed toilets as a reference, the oldest flush toilet in China is the one discovered at the Yueyang City site in Shaanxi, dating back about 2,400 years to the Warring States period. But this is a fixed structure, not a mobile toilet.