A sex culture festival in Guangzhou has been getting down to basics as part of the southern city's efforts to promote healthy sex.

The opening ceremony of the Third Chinese (Guangzhou) Sex Culture Festival on Saturday was hosted by a dozen sex experts from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.

"Holding this festival shows the mainland is open and bold about sex," Xu Tianmin, president of the China Sexology Association, told China Daily during the ceremony.

A survey of more than 10,000 25-34-year-olds by Durex.com suggests the age at which Chinese people first have sex has fallen from 22 in 2001 to 18 in this year's survey.

But according to Xu, sex education has not kept pace with the country's increasingly open attitudes.

The survey found that one-third of those interviewed did not receive any sex education at school.

Xu said lack of sex education and ignorance of safe sex was one reason for the spread of HIV/AIDS and venereal diseases.

"We hope people, especially young people, can know more about healthy sex through this three-day event," Xu said.

The festival, with the theme of "healthy and harmonious sex," has a special exhibition about sex culture and sexually transmitted diseases.

A lingerie show and sex toy exhibition are two of the more eye-catching sections of the event, which drew more than 50,000 on its first day.

A high school student surnamed Ouyang said his parents had accompanied him to the festival.

"I don't know much about sex and the festival has taught me a lot I didn't know before," he said.

Sexologists are presenting forums on various subjects, including one talk by Li Yinhe, a famous female expert on homosexuality in China.

Zhang Feng, director of the Guangdong Sexology Association, said the two previous sex festivals in Guangzhou had been a roaring success.

More cities in other parts of China are planning to hold similar festivals, Zhang added.

"Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei Province, will launch another sex festival soon."

(China Daily November 7, 2005)