Across China: Chinese toilet makers answer call of innovation

To prove how well her toilets purify water, Liu Yan scooped some out of the toilet bowl and took a sip.

Liu, vice president of Chinese bathroom fixture company Jomoo, performs this demonstration everytime she introduces the company's line of high-tech toilets. She does it with a mixture of pride and patriotism.

"Our products are not inferior to foreign brands," Liu said, standing beside a 40,000-yuan (6,150 U.S. dollars) smart toilet with a spray system that does away with the need for tissue.

"Most of our foreign competitors keep the spray water at 38 degrees Celsius, which is comfortable for human bodies, but this temperature also helps bacteria reproduce, so we sterilize the water via electrolysis to a drinkable level," Liu said.

Chinese toilet makers like Jomoo are fighting to enhance China's reputation as a producer of high-quality products.

Many middle-class Chinese prefer to buy smart toilets during their trips to Japan, sparking debate about China's manufacturing and ability to innovate. The irony is that many of these items are actually made in China, and what Chinese firms lack is brand awareness.

"People tend to blame the quality of domestic products for causing frenzied buying in Japan, but they often neglect the lack of promotion of domestic brands," said Lin Xiaofa, founder and board chairman of Jomoo.

China manufactured about 3.4 million smart toilet seats in 2015, up 35.5 percent from the previous year, and exported 40 percent of them to Japan, said a report by China Household Appliances Association.

The report noted the immense potential in the Chinese market. It estimates that less than 1 percent of homes in China have smart toilets, compared with 76 percent in Japan and 50 percent in the Republic of Korea.

In Nan'an City, a major sanitary-ware production hub in Fujian Province where Jomoo is located, many high-end toilet makers have launched promotion activities and rolled out more fancy designs.

"Domestic demand for high-quality sanitary items is certain to grow as Chinese get richer," said Wang Jianye, board chairman of toilet maker Brilliant Pluming. "Now every company wants a share, so quality and innovation have become our top concerns."

Lin said Jomoo has R&D centers in Shanghai, Shenzhen and even Silicon Valley, and the company has registered over 100 patents in toilet production so far.

Its toilets now boast futuristic functions such as massage, Hi-Fi, thermostat and even urine test.

Its production features international elements. In Jomoo's workshop, toilets are glazed by Italian robotic arms, and run through German production lines operated by German technicians. Such global partnership is common in Nan'an.

"We do make toilets using domestic machinery, but luxury toilets can be manufactured only by top-class equipment imported from Germany," Lin said. "After all, the industry in China has a history spanning a just a few dozen years." Endi