Sex museum to open to minors for education (Shanghai Daily) Updated: 2005-11-14 09:08
China's first sex museum will lift its age restriction to open to minors
for the first time, as it attempts to become a sex education base for
youngsters.
Professor Liu Dalin, the curator of China's
first ever sex museum [sina] | Founders of the
Ancient Chinese Sex Culture Museum said yesterday that they would also team up
with a Shanghai polytechnic school to turn the museum into a training base
for sex education teachers.
They wouldn't provide the name of the school, however.
Since it opened in the city in 1995, the sex museum, which is now located in
Tongli, Zhejiang Province, has been closed to anyone under the age of 18.
The museum's owners feared admitting minors would lead to unnecessary
opposition from the public, according to founder Liu Dalin, a retired
sociological professor from Shanghai University.
"But with society's increasing understanding of sex, a growing number of
people come to realize that it's a pity to hide such good education materials
from youngsters," said Hu Hongxia, Liu's partner.
"It was even considered a waste of precious cultural materials," Hu said.
Some exhibits that are considered too graphic will be kept in a special hall
that will remain closed to minors, and young visitors will be asked to watch a
30-minute sex education video.
Hu and Liu wouldn't say when the museum will open to minors, only saying it
would happen "as soon as possible."
Hu also said that they have finished compiling a set of sex education
textbooks for university students, which cover a wide range of topics such as
marriage and AIDS prevention.
The textbooks are scheduled to be published in January.
Originally located on downtown Wuding Road, the sex museum was forced to move
to its current location in Jiangsu in 2003 due to low attendance and high
rent.
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