Indeed, in those years, houses were barely furnished, and there were no toilets, bathrooms, or even water. Usually, 10 households would share a tap and it would cost far too much for a large family to buy water to bath. So, many people went to a Pao Shui Guan, for it was much cheaper and more convenient.

A Pao Shui Guan was also a good place for singles, as for only ten cents, you could go 6 times to the Pao Shui Guan. Li Yeqiong is an elder woman today, but she remembers well her life alone after her graduation: "Because I was single, my housing quarters had no bathroom, and not even a device to boil water, so I just had to go to a Pao Shui Guan to bath."

Now after thirty years of reform and opening up, the economy is much more developed. There is for many citizens an overwhelming material abundance which has also changed the way people have access to water and more generally their consumptions habits. Drinking bottled water has become a habit in millions of households, either mineral water or purified water.

Mrs. Ou said: "In the past, there was no tap water at home, and we had to carry water from the street tap. Now we have water dispensers. Life has totally changed."

Mrs. Ou's neighbor, Yu Lusheng also said: "It is really a great change. We used to buy water outside, but now we can use tap water at home conveniently. We couldn't even boil water at home, but now we have distilled water, pure water, and many other types of water."

The Pao Shui Guan's have long disappeared, and have even become a mystery for today's youngsters. But it's a bittersweet memory in the hearts of many elders like Yu Lusheng who witnessed the development of the country, and the new access to drinking water.

"Pao Shui Guan's represent an important feature of Guangzhou, that we could even consider as a cultural relics. The several Pao Shui Guans that remain should be preserved to show Guangzhou's urban development", and one could add that preserving a Pao Shui Guan, is also to preserve a window onto the past, that today's youth should not forget to look through from time to time.