The textbooks are the first of their kind in the Chinese capital, according to the paper. The city's Haidian District will take the lead in introducing the textbooks to its middle schools when the new semester begins.

The three-volume set, compiled by a group of sex education specialists, was complete and scientific with the inclusion of methods and opinions regarding sex education used in developed countries.

Supporting courses such as peer-education and the training of parents would also be carried out in middle schools, said the newspaper.

Openly discussing sex is a taboo in China which has been gradually crumbling.

Proper sex education in middle schools would help young people learn about safe and healthy sex and procreation and help them to make a right choice of lifestyle, according to Liu Hanbin, deputy director of the Family Planning Association of China.

"Now is the time to change the traditional ideology of sexual avoidance and to give up unsophisticated teaching methods which simply preached moral standards," said Liu.

Apart from Beijing, a dozen other Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Chongqing, Harbin and Xi'an have included sex education plans in middle schools.

(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2002)