Sorry DD, have to call you out on that one. If you go into a women's restroom you'll frequently see red papers in the buckets. Used pads too. That's ... normal. I mean I know men like to pretend that women don't actually have bodily functions, but when everyone throws their papers in a bin next to the toilet instead of flushing, you're bound to see red ones. I fail to see how menstrual blood is any grosser than actual shit. And CP, I am with you. We throw our paper in the basket next to the toilet. 10 years here and that was one of the first things I learned. It is so ingrained now that I can't bring myself to flush paper, not even in our own apartment.I was reading another forum a couple of weeks ago, one where the vast majority of the posters are in North America. Someone posted about seeing a sign in an office of some sort -- in the USA -- asking people not to flush used paper and the reactions ranged from disgust to outrage to "omg call the health department on them!" Clearly none of these people had ever been in China -- the reactions were that strong. And I was sitting there kind of baffled because sure it is kind of gross but life is gross, humans are gross and it never would have occurred to me to get all shock and outrage about something like that. I guess China has changed me!