China is in a horse race with Japan…

…to achieve the top notch as Asia’s weirdest country:

China uses facial recognition software to crack down on toilet paper theft

To get toilet paper from dispensers placed in the Temple of Heaven, users must first stare into a computer that records their image before spitting out a 2-foot-long sheet of tissue.

This story delights me in ways I cannot fully articulate. It also suggests that the Chinese economy is not a 100% crackerjack success story. Most of us in the US are not thinking all that much about micromanaging toilet paper.