Han Ximin

SHENZHEN’S first-ever sex culture festival attracted more than 30,000 residents over the weekend, according to the organizer, the Shenzhen Population and Family Planning Association.

Visitors said it was a good opportunity to increase awareness about reproductive health and popularize sex education. The three-day Shenzhen Sex Culture Festival closed yesterday.

“I think the festival has not only increased my sex knowledge, but helped me learn about Chinese people’s sex culture in the past,” said a visitor surnamed Jia, who went with his wife and 15-year-old son to the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center.

“After my half-hour visit, I called my wife and son to the festival, and I think it was a good chance for us to teach my son something about sex-related issues, which we sometimes felt embarrassed to talk about with him,” said Jia.

Zhang also bought some adult products to make his sex life “more interesting.” About 1,000 relics depicting ancient sex culture attracted the most visitors. Nearly half of the relics are personal collections from the Museum of the Ancient Chinese Sex Culture owned by Chen Zhen, member of the China Sexology Association.

“It is unbelievable that our ancestors had such a rich sex culture, and some relics date back to 2,000 years ago,” said a visitor surnamed Zhang.

The 17-meter-long illustrations of “The Golden Lotus,” which were carved on ceramic tiles and brought by Chen to the festival, attracted curious visitors. “The Golden Lotus,” regarded as one of the Four Major Novels of Wonder of ancient China and published in the late Ming dynasty (1368-1644), explicitly describes 1,500 ways of making love.

In addition to exhibitions, forums on puberty by sexologists gave parents guidance on how to conduct sex education.

“Parents shouldn’t avoid or refuse to answer embarrassing questions and should answer them with facts,” said Ruan Fangbin, a sexologist.