The Ancient Chinese Sex Culture Museum, China's first sex museum located in Jiangsu, will open its doors to under-aged visitors for the first time since it opened in 1995, in its bid to become a sex education base for youngsters.

Founders of the museum said on Sunday that they would also cooperate with a Shanghai polytechnic to turn the museum into a training base for sex education teachers, and to transform the museum into an academic communication base.

They wouldn't reveal the name of the polytechnic.

The museum has on display over 4,000 sex culture relics and sex appliances found in China, including more than 20 collections dating back some 5000 to 6000 years. The items were collected by the museum's founder, Liu Dalin, a retired professor of sociology from Shanghai University, and his colleagues.

The museum's directors are aware that admitting minors could lead to opposition from the public. "But with society's increasing understanding of sex, a growing number of people realize that it's a pity to hide such good education material from youngsters," Hu Hongxia, Liu's partner, said.

"And it could even be considered a waste of precious cultural materials," Hu added.

Some exhibits that are considered too graphic will be kept in a special hall that will remain closed to minors, and young visitors will be asked to watch a 30-minute sex education video before a tour of the museum.

Neither Hu nor Liu would say when exactly minors would be allowed entry to the museum, only saying that it would happen "as soon as possible."

Hu also said that they have finished compiling a set of sex education textbooks for university students, covering a wide range of topics including marriage and AIDS prevention, which are scheduled to be published in January.

The museum moved from its original location in Shanghai to Tongli, Jiangsu Province, in April 2004 due to low visitor rates and high rentals.

(Shanghai Daily November 14, 2005)