Everybody in China is going hi-tech these days. Any respectable city on the mainland has at least one high-technology industrial park. Shenzhen will soon have its second stock market board to list shares of hi-tech firms.

The southern city not long ago held its prestigious technology fair, showing off its latest innovations.

Beijing and Xian have followed with their own technology shows and Shanghai, of course, is not to be outdone. This week the east China city is holding its International Industry Fair - also fondly known as the 2000 High Technology Achievements Exhibit.

"This will give momentum to a strategic adjustment of the economic structure and boost the quality and competitiveness of industry," a city government official said.

There are, however, differing views on what constitutes high technology. Readers should judge for themselves the usefulness of the achievements.

My favourite out of about 900 displays at the fair is the portable toilet. Now I do not want to mislead our readers. I am not talking about any old toilet. This is a special device built by Tsinghua Unisplendour, a company linked to Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Firstly, the toilet uses no water. It has a plastic bag that fits over the seat and wraps your deposit in a nice airtight package. When a motor is turned on it conveniently drops into a box below. Seen something like this before? I am assured it is a unique item that has won numerous awards and patents.

If that is not enough, the bags are biodegradable. And if you happen to be in an area where there is no electricity, there is a model designed for the great outdoors that is operated by a pedal.

One model has gloriously done service on a Chinese scientific expedition to the South Pole. Another was on hand at the nationally televised ceremonies for the blocking of the Yangtze River on the Three Gorges Dam Project and others were used to accommodate the crowds that welcomed President Bill Clinton when he stopped in Xian on his China trip in 1998.

Company officials say the United States president got a chance to test the product and expressed his satisfaction with its performance.

I am afraid this vital piece of information cannot be independently confirmed at this moment, however.

Company officials say the product has been well received on the domestic market.

"This product is selling very well," said Zhuang Huibin, head of Unisplendour's Shanghai operations.

If you are not in the market for a hi-tech toilet - there is more, much more at the Shanghai fair.

The Shanghai Fisheries University has introduced a product which could find a very receptive market around this east China city.

It has unveiled a drug designed to kill water-borne bacteria that afflicts the famous Shanghai hairy crabs with the dreaded "trembling" disease.

I have never seen a trembling hairy crab although I am told it is not a pleasant sight. I assume that any crab incautious enough to venture near a Shanghai restaurant during crab-eating season would have ample excuse to tremble.

For those who have seen a needy crab with an unsteady claw, this product is called Xie An (crabs at peace) No 3.

The Guangci Hospital is touting its new and more reliable resin for loose dentures, while Shanghai Flying Hawk Industrial has a multimedia teaching aid for instruction in acupuncture and moxibustion.

The teaching product "reaches international levels", according to company literature.

There is also the Shanghai Hengye's curiously named "Aroma" electric bicycle, which has no detectable odour but boasts a top speed of 20 kilometres an hour and can zip around for 50km before requiring a battery recharge.

An ambitious software maker is trying to take on the more widely used "Big Five" character input system for Chinese language software. It calls itself the "Big Two", as most Chinese characters can be entered on a computer screen by hitting an average of only two keys on the keyboard.

Another useful item seen at a parallel environmental fair is the biodegradable lunch box. Some readers may not be familiar with what is known as Shanghai's "white trash" - not to be confused with the American use of that term.

Anyone strolling down the side streets of the city can easily recognise the mountains of white styrofoam lunch boxes. While this environmentally friendly product, which is already on the market, will not stop the unpleasant practice of dumping refuse along the curb, it at least will make eventual disposal a bit easier.

For those who wish to view China's inventive side up close, the fair is worth a visit. Otherwise, suffice it to say that high-technology, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

WILLIAM KAZER of South China Morning Post