Sébastien Le Belzic (correspondent in Beijing), edited by Gauthier Delomez
At the end of February, Chinese archaeologists discovered a 2,400-year-old flush toilet. These, which date back to the Qin dynasty (221 to 206 BC), were found in a palace in the former imperial capital of the city Xian.
Did China create the toilets? The question arises because recently, at the end of February, Chinese archaeologists discovered 2,400-year-old flush toilets. At the time, it was a luxury item that was used by people in high office, and certainly even the emperor himself. These toilets equipped with a flushing system are the oldest discovered in the country.
Chinese archaeologists have discovered 2,400-year-old flush toilets.
Credits: Yang Yimiao / XINHUA / Xinhua via AFP
They date from the Qin dynasty (221 to 206 BC), and were found in a palace in the former imperial capital of the city of Xian, in Shaanxi province in central China.
Find out what the Emperor of China ate back then
This discovery makes archaeologists say that China invented this system, which would then have been used by several successive emperors. The images of this discovery show a basin equipped with a drain pipe. Water had to be poured manually, certainly by servants.
Scientists now hope to find tiny feces particles to analyze. This could let them know what the Emperor of China ate at the time. Until then, historians attributed the invention of the modern flush to the court of the Queen of England at the end of the 16th century.