The fourth Guangzhou Sex Culture Festival themed "building moral sexual attitudes" attracted over 60,000 visitors to its first day on Saturday, which is 10,000 up on the last session's opening day.

 

 

An exhibition forming part of the festival includes ancient relics from museums around Guangdong Province.

 

Besides the exhibition other areas of interest will include a special report on sexual health from Hu Peicheng, a psychologist and sexologist from Peking University.

 

"As China is undergoing the so-called 'sexual revolution' we are attaching great importance to promoting traditional moral ideas about sexuality," an expert surnamed Duan told China Daily.

 

"China has a totally different attitude towards sex from many countries," Duan said. "We should not only promote a bold, open attitude, as in Western countries, but also preserve healthy, traditional views on sex."

 

Li Yinhe

Once regarded as "bold and open" sexologist Li Yinhe's views on sex, particularly topics such as "wife-swapping," received a frosty reception from experts at this year's Festival.

 

Addressing last year's event Li, widely acclaimed as China's foremost female sociologist on sexual matters, said wife swapping was a normal type of entertainment and all couples should have the right to participate if they wished. 

 

However, this year scholars and experts at a forum held in conjunction with the ongoing event rejected her easy-going views.

 

"Wife swapping should not be promoted to the public as it will lead to the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases," said Zhang Feng, director of the Guangdong Provincial Population and Family Planning Committee.

 

Zhang added that neither the sex forum nor the expo of the festival should provide a platform for advertising bold and "unacceptable" views to the public. "These views should be discussed as academic issues rather than widely acceptable social issues," Zhang commented.

  

Zhu Mingxi, deputy director of the Guangdong Sexology Association said, "There's only a small number of couples who accept Li's views as most people still have more traditional attitudes about sex."

(China Daily November 6, 2006)