本文以 1920、1930 年代的廣州作為例子，探討政府如何利用現代衛生概念，把糞溺與廁所納入由政府主導的公共衛生管理範疇，因而為城市生活帶來三方面的變化：一是物質文化，二是城市管理結構，三是社會關係及身分認同。政府介入糞溺及公廁的管理，為廣州城帶來物質層次的變化：水廁及女廁開始於廣州的城市空間出現。而在城市管理結構方面，作為民間團體的糞溺業商會，因市政府權力的擴大而瓦解。而新的如廁文化，如不可隨處便溺的新規條，成為文明城市及文明城市人的指標，這亦凸顯了城鄉的差別：隨處便溺者，便被視為是沒有教養的「鄉愚」。本文亦指出，經過民國時期的市政改革，雖然城市廁所的改變是有限的，對廣州人來說，政權介入糞溺管理後，廁所與以往一樣的髒，一樣的臭，但政府成功地塑造了一套對廁所及如廁文化的新準則，以及改變了人們對城市文化和城市生活方式的構想。現代政權對於城市文明的想像，已改變了城市人對其周遭環境的理解及對政府施政的期望。

This study explores how the emergence of the concept of public health in twentieth-century China shaped municipal government policies toward public toilets and the disposal of human waste in Republican Guangzhou, and its subsequent impact on three different aspects of urban life, namely material culture, urban administration, and urban identity. At the level of material culture, the municipal government’s construction of water closets and public toilets specifically for women brought about tangible changes in the urban landscape and the material life of the people of Guangzhou. At the level of urban administration, the night-soil trade associations, which had been in charge of the management of human waste of the city before the formation of the Guangzhou municipal government, disappeared in the face of the creation of a government-led public health system. At the level of urban identity, the government regulation against urinating in public places gave a new dimension to urban cultural norms and strengthened the boundary between the urban and the rural. Those who violated the regulation were now considered “country bumpkins” who were uncivilized and uninformed of modern urban behavioral standards. Though the government fell short of most of its targets, top-down public health projects gave rise to a set of new norms regarding public toilets and toilet culture, which in turn reshaped urban dwellers’ perception of the essence of modern urban life, their view of the government’s obligation to provide clean toilets, and their concerns about privacy.