China Digital Times

China news tagged with: sex (53)

• China Censorship Primer: Just Say “No” to Female Orgasms

  

  Bruce Humes writes in his blog:

  Don’t let media in the West fool you—talking about sex in China is not taboo. But apparently references to female genitalia and orgasms are still big no-nos.

  To see how such touchy subjects are handled in Chinese media, let’s take a look at what happened to the Guardian’s “China to Open First Sex Theme Park” (May 15, 2009) when it was translated and published in Cankao Xiaoxi.

  As noted in my earlier updates on Cankao Xiaoxi, this daily newspaper is a respected Chinese-language digest of the world press with a long history, and in many cities across China it sells out every day before noon. Virtually no English is used and no content is added. But references deemed unbecoming to China’s image are often deleted.

  To show you how censorship/repackaging works in the People’s Republic, the Guardian’s original news item is fully reproduced below. Note that both uses of “genitalia” in the original, which are gender-neutral, have for some reason been rendered in Chinese as “phallus” (男根).

  Read more of Bruce’s post here. Thanks to Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber for the link.

  See also a report from Reuters about the tearing down of the sex theme park before it opened:

  Love Land, set to open in October in the southwestern city of Chongqing, featured exhibits on sexual history and how-to workshops, the China Daily newspaper reported last week.

  A picture of the park entrance showed a signboard with the park’s name straddled by a giant pair of women’s legs topped by a red thong.

  But the plans left Chongqing officials red-faced. They ordered the park torn down over the weekend, the China Daily reported.

  » Read more
  • May 17, 2009 2:59 PM

• Survey: 47 Million Rural Women Sexually Deprived

  

  The follow excerpt is from a news article in Beijing News (via netease.com) on December 2, translated by CDT’s Lucy Lin:

  At the moment, there are 87 million “remain villagers” (Liushou Renkou: meaning those villagers stayed in the rural areas while their family members went to work in the cities.) nationwide. A study conducted by the China Agriculture University on the population that stays behind in villages showed that among the 87 million “remaining villagers”, 20 million are children, 47 million are women, and approximately 20 million are seniors.

  At yesterday’s news conference regarding this issue, the vice president of the College of Human and Social Development at the China Agriculture University Ye Jingzhong said that through its survey, the research team discovered that the women who stay behind in rural villages have secretly voiced the problem of sex repression: “For long periods of time, they are sexually repressed, bringing a chain of negative sentiments.” The investigation showed that 69.8% of these women frequently felt restless, 50.6% of them frequently felt anxious, and 39.0% of them frequently felt repressed.

  Blogger Hong Qiaojun (洪巧俊 ) commented on this news on his blog on ifeng.com: “Who have the 47 million ‘institutional widows’ embarrassed?” (excerpt translated by Lucy Lin)

  I call these 47 million women who stay behind in rural villages “widows” because their sex life is the same as that of a widow’s. However, I’ve put quotations around the term because they’re not really widows, and they all actually have husbands. Not long ago, there was a report that said 90% of the wives of corrupt officials were living a widowed life and called these women “rich widows.” Of course, the “widows” from the rural villages and the “widows” from families of corrupt officials are different in nature. The “widows” of the rural villages are constrained by the pressures of home life as their husbands labor outside the village for long periods of time while they have to stay at home to look after the children as well as cultivating the fields; the “widows” from families of corrupt officials are “widows” because the corrupt officials are always out engaging in debauchery and not coming home all night. One is well-fed and clothed but wants lust, and one is poor but wants to be well-fed and clothed. These are two completely different living circumstances.

  Who let these 47 million women become “widows” not just in name, but in reality, too? Without a doubt, it is the legal, institutional divide between residents in the city and the countryside, and so calling them “institutionalized widows” is more appropriate.

  » Read more
  • December 6, 2008 10:55 PM

• Chinese Youth Conflicted About Sex, Survey Finds

  

  From Reuters:

  A recent survey revealed that though China’s young people are more open about sex than previous generations, reservations about one-night stands and homosexuality remain.

  “…more than 96 percent of the surveyed first had sex with their partner, rather than just a one-night stand. Nearly 20 percent first had sex before the age of 20. “The survey found that on the one hand they had sex earlier but on the other it was in a stable relationship,” the newspaper said. “This shows the contradictions felt in the first generation of single children towards sex.” Most did not approve of one-night stands, and almost three-quarters said they would never try homosexuality, the report added. Premarital sex and cohabitation were not generally felt to be problems, the survey found.”

  According to a previous post on China Digital Times, previous surveys have also found a low occurrence of awareness about the spread of HIV/AIDS.

  China’s Sexual Revolution

  » Read more
  • October 15, 2008 4:58 PM

• Quiet Sexual Revolution Forces Beijing to Admit Dangers of Aids

  

  The Guardian reports on the ups and downs in China’s fight against AIDS:

  After years of inaction and denial, the government has begun to address the problem. High profile meetings between HIV patients and political leaders are one solution, intended to address the stigma and educate the public about the issue.

  Just as significant is the hefty increase in funding for prevention programmes and antiretrovirals for patients. There are public information films and the first strategy addressing the needs of men who have sex with men - one of the highest risk groups.

  …But when it comes to addressing difficult questions, when activists embarrass officials, or when it comes to implementing policy, the shortcomings of this zeal are clear. Experts fear that leaves China at risk of an epidemic if further improvements are not made.

  » Read more
  • April 18, 2008 3:25 PM

• China Discovers the Permissive Society

  

  China’s youth are defying tradition with sexual promiscuity.  But is education addressing this newfound freedom?  And is age-old morality under seige?  The New York Times reports on this new phenomenon and its consequences:

  Every weekend, lusty college couples make a beeline past greasy spoon restaurants and bootleg video game shops for the dim hotel lobbies to book three-hour blocks of privacy. Students fill half the simple but tidy rooms at the Cheng Lin Ming Guang Hotel, a 10-minute walk from Beijing Normal University.

  China is in the midst of a sexual revolution, a byproduct of rising prosperity and looser government restrictions on private life. The relaxed attitudes about sex mark a historic turnaround from the days when love and sex were denounced as bourgeois decadence, and unisex Mao suits and drab austerity were the norm.   

  » Read more
  • March 4, 2008 1:20 AM

• Sex Now the Main Cause of HIV in China - Henry Sanderson

  

  From AP, via The National Geographic:

  Sex has overtaken drug use as the main cause of HIV infections in China, leading to worries the disease may spread outside of high-risk groups into the general population, according to experts and a report released this week, ahead of World AIDS Day this Saturday.
  
  There were an estimated 50,000 new cases of HIV in 2007, taking the total to an estimated 700,000 people living with the virus in China, said the report issued jointly by UNAIDS and a committee of the State Council, China’s Cabinet. [Full Text]

  » Read more
  • November 30, 2007 7:45 PM

• Video: China Sex Workers - Current.com

  

  In this video, Laura Ling took a close look into the sex industry in Beijing. She says that “most sex workers are migrants, part of the estimated 120 to 200 million people who have left China’s countryside in search of better-paying jobs in China’s cities.” [Click to see the origial video]

  Also related, First Sex Report On Farmer Workers Published, from China.org.cn:

  » Read more
  • November 16, 2007 9:19 AM

• TV: China’s Sexual Revolution - CBC

  

  From the Canadian CBC Television:

  You’ve heard about China’s Cultural Revolution and its sizzling Economic Revolution. But you haven’t heard about its other great social upheaval - the Chinese Sexual Revolution - and like everything in that country it’s happening at warp speed.

  It’s China’s version of the 60s revolution - on steroids.

  » Read more
  • November 7, 2007 5:26 PM

• 2,000 Sex-related Ads Dropped from Chinese Television and Radio - Xinhua

  

  Further action has been taken by SARFT since China Bans “Sexual Sounds” On Airwaves, from Xinhua:

  About 2,000 advertisements adjudged to be sexually suggestive have been dropped from television and radio broadcast across China over the past two weeks, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) said on Wednesday…

  The “no sex” campaign was triggered by sexually suggestive programs produced by two radio stations in southwest China’s Sichuan Province which were banned early last month.

  After that, 15 programs of seven radio stations were banned and producers were punished, the statement said. [Full Text]

  » Read more
  • October 10, 2007 9:51 PM

• China Bans “Sexual Sounds” On Airwaves - Reuters

  

  

  China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT; 国家广播电影电视总局 ) continues it’s pre-Party Congress crackdown with the shuttering of a female crime reconstruction show and a wholesale ban on sex-related advertisements. From Reuters:

  “Sexually suggestive advertisements and scenes showing how women are influenced into a life of crime are detrimental to society,” it said in a statement posted on its Web site on Wednesday, referring to its decision to axe “Red Question Mark” (红问号), a crime documentary.

  “Commercials containing sexually provocative sounds or tantalizing language as well as vulgar advertisements for breast enhancement and female underwear are banned, effective immediately,” said the SARFT notice. [Full Text]

  Further reading:

  • The central government’s take on Red Question Mark (Xinhua via People’s Daily).
  • Chinese report on the ban on “eight types of sex-related ads” (Xinhua via Beijing Times).

  [Image: Screen grab from preview of an episode of "Red Question Mark," via ku6.com]

  » Read more
  • September 26, 2007 2:08 AM

• Tighter Rules on Bath Houses, Massage Parlors - Wu Jiao

  

  From China Daily:

  The Ministry of Commerce has ordered all public bath houses to make their premises more accessible to public inspections in a bid to fight the growing sex trade. The ministry released draft rules on Thursday that require bath houses with massage rooms to be viewed openly from the outside. Foot-massage parlors must have their cubicle doors unlocked when attending clients. The draft rules have been posted on the ministry’s website to solicit public opinion before September 10….[Full Text]

  » Read more
  • September 4, 2007 7:38 PM

• The Personal Affairs of 6,000 Chinese Citizens - Ma Jun

  

  From Y Weekend and translated by EastSouthWestNorth:

  What has changed with the sexual activities and relationships of the Chinese people over the past six years? Recently, the published research results at the Chinese Renmin University Sexual Sociology Institute website challenged the general beliefs of many people. During an interview with reporter from Y Weekend, Professor Pan Suiming said that this showed the worth of sociological research.

  More than 6,000 people around the nation participated in this sex survey. The response rate was top in the world because the survey respondents included old men in remote places and middle-aged housewives in hutongs. The survey questionnaire covers extra-martial affairs, sexual preferences and other private matters. [Full Text]

  [Image: Professor Pan Suiming, from Yweekend.com]

  » Read more
  • August 6, 2007 11:15 AM

• Oldest Profession Flourishes in China - Maureen Fan

  

  From The Washington Post:

  The 22-year-old was a freelance prostitute. Henna-haired, eyebrows painted and dressed no differently than a college student, she moved from beauty salon to beauty salon, taking calls on her mobile phone from salon managers when they couldn’t find enough girls for all their customers.

  She said she wasn’t as well paid as call girls in some of Beijing’s toniest hotels. Nor was she as poor as the women on construction sites, who sometimes service scores of migrant workers a night for barely more than $1 per customer. Two years ago, when she worked in her native Shandong province, she charged $27 for a session. [Full Text]

  » Read more
  • August 5, 2007 7:32 AM

• Let’s Talk about Sex in China - Asia Times Online

  

  From Asia Times Online:

  Sociologist James Farrer recently attended a conference in Beijing on sexuality and its implications for human rights and civil society in China. Farrer, author of Opening Up: Youth Sex Culture and Market Reform in Shanghai, is associate professor at Sophia University in Tokyo, specializing in Chinese society. He speaks to Devin Stewart.

  Devin Stewart: Tell me about this intriguing conference you attended in China. How does it relate to your work?

  James Farrer: Well, the conference I went to was called the “International Conference on Chinese Sexual Culture.” It was held at People’s University in Beijing in the third week of June, and was organized by the Sex Research Institute at People’s University….[Full Text]

  » Read more
  • July 13, 2007 6:53 AM

• Rise in Abortions Marks a Changing Society in China - Jim Yardley

  

  From the New York Times:

  Abortion is legal and widely accessible in China, yet the usual profile is of married women complying, voluntarily or not, with the one-child policy. But as Chinese society rapidly changes, so has the face of abortion.

  More young, single women are having abortions and even constitute a majority of those getting abortions in Shanghai and parts of Beijing, according to academic studies and health experts.

  Many of these women - migrant workers, urban professionals, prostitutes and students - are having multiple abortions. For this new generation of single women, who have grown up as sexual mores have steadily loosened in China, abortion rates have risen as Chinese society has become more transient and unmoored from the values, and inhibitions, of traditional culture. [Full text]

  » Read more
  • May 12, 2007 2:50 PM

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