page_title: Open-crotch pants
section_title: Use
hierarchical_section_title: Open-crotch pants / Use
caption_attribution_description: English: Open-crotch pants - for 3 to 6-month-olds, as sold in Haikou City, Hainan Province, China.
context_page_description: Open-crotch pants, also known as open-crotch trousers or split pants, are worn by toddlers throughout mainland China. Often made of thick fabric, they are designed with either an unsewn seam over the buttocks and crotch or a hole over the central buttocks. Both allow children to urinate and defecate without the pants being lowered. The child simply squats, or is held by the parent, eliminating the need for diapers. The sight of the partially exposed buttocks of kaidangku-clad children in public places frequently astonishes foreign visitors, who often photograph them; they have been described as being "as much a sign of China as Chairman Mao's portrait looming over Tiananmen Square."
  In China they are often seen as a relic of the country's rural past, with younger mothers, particularly in cities, preferring to diaper their children instead. However, Western advocates of the elimination communication method of toilet training have pointed to the advantages of their use, specifically that children complete their toilet training more quickly and at an earlier age.
context_section_description: Toilet training begins very early in China, sometimes within days of birth and usually no later than a month. Frequently babies are held closely by parents, grandparents or other extended family members caring for them, sensitive to when they need to relieve themselves. A child who appears ready to urinate or defecate is held over the toilet or any other receptacle available if a commode cannot be reached in time. The adult makes a high-pitched soft whistle while holding the child in a bǎ (Chinese: 把), or bunched-up position, a term sometimes used for the whole process, imitating the sound of running water or urine, to get the child to relax the appropriate muscles.
  Open-crotch pants are worn when the child is first taken out of the house. Mostly male children wear them; girls (and occasionally some boys) are put in infant-size sundresses. Their use continues even after wearers have gained some control over their bodily functions, since they may not have yet gained the stature or motor skills necessary to use a toilet. Instead, when outdoors, they use a wastebasket or large potted plant. If neither of those is available, caretakers often let the children use the sidewalk or any other available uncovered surface and clean it up themselves afterwards.
caption: Open-crotch pants for 3- to 6-month-olds, for sale in Haikou
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