Chinese sex park is 'for the public good'

(REUTERS )

China is building its first sexually explicit theme park, and the giant genitalia sculptures and suggestive exhibits are getting many people hot and bothered in a country where talking about sex is still taboo.

Love Land is set to open in October in the south-western metropolis of Chongqing and will feature exhibitions about sexual history and how to use condoms properly. It will also host sex technique workshops, the China Daily newspaper said.

A picture of the main entrance shows a signboard bearing the park's name being straddled by a giant pair of women's legs topped by a red thong.

The park's manager, Lu Xiaoqing, said Love Land would help people "enjoy a harmonious sex life".

"We are building the park for the good of the public," Mr Lu said. "Sex is a taboo subject in China but people really need to have more access to information about it."

Sex is not normally a topic for open discussion in China, where government figures show only 7 per cent of women and slightly more than 8 per cent of men get immediate medical help for sexual problems.

Earlier this year, the government launched a national sex education campaign aimed at getting more people to seek treatment for sexually transmitted infections and infertility, to try to break some of the taboos.

The newspaper said that the park was inspired by a similar attraction on South Korea's Jeju island, which is also called Loveland.

China's version of the attraction does seem to be helping to get the conversation going. Months before it opens, the park is already generating heated discussions among bloggers in cyberspace.

"It's just too much," wrote the blogger Autumn Rain on the popular Chinese portal baidu.com. "It's only about getting your heart to beat faster."

"Overseas, this park would be considered artistic. But in Chongqing, it's just vulgar," wrote Big Scandal.

Other bloggers offered their support for the idea.

"I don't object. Young people need to start sex education young as China has a problem when it comes to this," wrote Eaglefly.

The park manager Mr Lu said he was happy with all the debate.

"It is quite normal to see so much discussion about it," he said. "I have found that the majority of people support my idea but I have to pay attention and not make the park look vulgar and nasty."