Nearly one in five of Shenzhen's pools fail cleanliness standards

By Ross Graham

With photos of Chinese swimmers resembling battery hens going viral and Hong Kong lifeguards on strike against the antics of mainlanders in swimming pools, it was dimly predictable that the quality of Shenzhen’s public baths would fall short.

The city’s health authorities have confirmed that 21 out of 139 swimming pools have failed to meet water quality standards. Avoid the pools at the Yuanshan Scenic Park and Henggang subdistrict unless you enjoy bathing in chlorine residue, cloudy water, and bacteria.

Whether poor staff maintenance or bladder-releasing visitors are causing the problems is unclear, but this serves as further bad PR for Shenzhen's cleanliness and safety standards.