Museum for Sex EducationA museum aimed at boosting education on sex will be built in the southern province of Guangdong.The museum, estimated to cost five million yuan (about US$600,000), will be located in a tourism zone in Shaoguan City, which is famous for steep cliffs and rocks with bizarre shapes. Many of the rocks resemble human sex organs, but are much larger, and the Danxiashan tourism zone is thus often called the "garden of natural nudity". Local officials say that the sex museum will combine nature and culture, featuring different documents and materials on human's natural desires, including the history and behavior of sex. Officials hope that the museum will bring more tourists to the area. The idea has caused controversy among the public, as sex has been a sensitive issue in China's traditional culture. Many people were ashamed of mentioning sex. However, many scholars agree with the effort to set up the museum. Li Yinhe, a sociologist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that love used to be an art in ancient China but it had been distorted since the Song Dynasty (960-1279). The China Society of Sexology recently sponsored a seminar in Shaoguan to discuss the issue. Nevertheless, the tourism department maintained that it will take a long time for ordinary people to accept this unprecedented move. Even an official exhibition with paintings of nude women in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, caused debates last month, as a number of critics said it was "erotic". |
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