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Sex in Chinese Art, Tourism, Business, Education and Society
by Peter Barefoot on Sunday, November 4, 2012
From Sohu: (no longer available)
“Sexual” Experiences that Can’t be Handled
Recently, the “sensitive parts” of a statue at a scenic spot having been rubbed “naked” triggered heated discussion, with the tourists being accused of lacking moral character. However, a survey of various kinds of exhibitions and events suggests that “sexual” innuendo and even “sexual” experiences have already become a commercial gimmick. Is it because businesses are going too far or because viewers’ tastes are too strong [obscene]?
2004 January 28, in Beijing Sculpture Park, a boy “sniffing” a statue’s butt.
Some accuse tourists of lacking character/having poor character, but scenic spots, businessmen, and even government officials are never grudging when it comes to playing the “sexual” experience card. 2012 August 22, a netizen uploaded a photo of a statue in front of the plaza at Zhengzhou’s landmark “Central Plains Blessing Tower”, and complained that the posture of this statue was too “erotic”, but the designer thought that, in fact, it was “little piggy rubbing his mother’s back”.
The statue “little piggy rubbing his mother’s back” was pointed out to have originated from a pornographic toy. 2002 February 22, in Wuhan,
the “Rascal Pigs” series of trinkets that Industry and Commerce law enforcement officials investigated.
Statues full of “sexual” innuendo can be found everywhere. This picture is of a newly placed statue at a hotel in Shanghai Pudong recently,
jokingly called “’A’ Statue” ['A' for "adult"] by netizens.
The naked statue at the riverside of Tianjin Hai River.
2012 August 18, the “Ample Breasts & Fat Rump” sculpture lantern in Hubei Yunxi County. The picture shows a sculpture lantern in Yunxi
of a man and a woman entwined together, naked. The woman’s hump and breasts are very exaggerated.
Some scenic spots also hope to promote tourist spending by such means. 2012 October 3, the dissolute love story between fictional characters Pan Jinlian andXimen Qing in the novel Water Margin is well-known. However, in Tai’er Village, a scenic spot had brought these fictional characters to life with vivid statues, and the statue about Wu Song killing his sister-in-law seemed had gone a little too far. Pan Jinlian was displayed to the tourists with her upper body naked. There were elderly people and children among the coming and going tourists, and they felt embarrassed seeing it. This picture is of the statue of Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian (Wu Song Killing Sister-in-Law, Offers Sacrifice to his Brother).
2011 April 23, Beijing Fangshan Shenglian Mountain scenic spot, the eye-catching male genital organ totem “Root” and the female genital organ “Goddess Cave” face each other from afar to the right of the giant Laozi statue. Many tourists were too shy to go over to view them. The person in charge of the scenic spot said that these two totems represented the legacy of Laozi’s culture. This picture is of a reporter in the scenic spot taking photos of the “Root”.
Cultural exhibitions based on the theme of “sex” are naturally unafraid of holding back. 2009 October 18, the Ceramic Festival of China was held for the first time in Foshan. According to the organizer, Foshan City Hall, all activities could be participated in for free during the entire festival, and it was estimated that over 500,000 people from the Pearl River Delta or even nationwide had participated in this event. “Booby Lady”, “the biggest breasts of the world” was especially eye-catching. Citizens all came to take a photo with these enormous “breasts”.
2012 October 6, the opening of the Guangzhou Sex Cultural Festival, business owners hired pole dancers to perform on stage, with condoms scattered
at the scene for citizens to plunder. This picture is of the people at the scene watching a catwalk show.
Businesses have also joined in, skirting the lines of legality. 2012 June 2, at the opening of a restaurant on Nanjing City’s Jiangdongbei Road,
a Lithuanian model posed on a massive plate, attracted many onlookers.
Some businesses have gone straight to doing “reality shows”. 2009 March 29, at the Wuhan International Convention Center Square, 30 couples participated a “‘KISS I’m the Best’ Competition” where the couples stood in designated spots with their hands behind their backs and began actually kissing each other, with how long they could keep kissing being the criteria for who would win. The couple that kissed each other for the longest time was 1 hour, 2 minutes and 31 seconds, and they won a 1,001yuan money award.
2012 February 18, a female contestant fainted from fatigue, with her boyfriend hurriedly carrying her to the hospital for medial attention. That day, 50 young couples of Anhui Hefei participated in the kissing competition, with some fainting at the scene from fatigue. At last, a young couple kept kissing each other for 2 hours and 43 minutes, and won the 1 carat diamond ring worth 50,000 yuan provided by the event’s organizer. This picture is of a couple falling from fatigue, but still keeping their mouths connected.
2012 May 20, the ancient city of Xi’an put on a sweet kissing competition, with many couples enthusiastically participating. Under the competition’s requirement that the kissing had to be maintained, the difficulty gradually increased, with those in the demarcated circle going from two people standing on four feet reduced to standing on only one food, the contestants resorting to unusual moves, trying to win the competition to show their happiness. This picture is of a kissing couple losing their balance.
“Sex” education has also begun using practical exercises. 2012 July 12, in Shenzhen, students were divided into groups of both male and female, with everybody in every group required to complete the simulated process of using [putting on] a condom, according to strictly established procedures throughout the process. This “outrageous” game was one of the segments in a one week long “The First Youth & Health Training Camp”, the theme of the training camp being a topic that ordinary people are too shy to speak out about and even considered as a taboo — sex. The young men and women who joined the training camp were from 30 provinces and cities nationwide, ages between 18 to 24 years old, most of them college students. The activities were arranged and designed by the students themselves, and there were many sexually suggestive activities during the event.
All sorts of carnivals have become hotbeds participants to engage in “sexual” behavior. 2011 May 2, both domestic and foreign tourists gathered in Yunnan Province Cangyuan Va Nationality Autonomous County to spend the “Touch You Black” carnival together. People used paint made from natural raw material “娘布洛” [niang bu luo] to rub onto one another as a gesture of blessing. Yunnan Cangyuan ten thousand people “Touch you Black” scene was super-hot.
Are businesses going too far or is it because participants have tastes that are too strong? A netizen left a comment saying that a certain county lacks nothing except morality [referring to China]. 2012 August 23, in Hainan Province Baoting Li & Miao Nationality Autonomous County, the annual “China Nanhai Seven Fairies Hot Spring Water-Splashing Festival” grand opening was held at 8:30 am at Seven Fairies Square in Baoting Li & Miao Nationality Autonomous County. Not long after the water-splashing carnival began, more than ten women were held down to the ground by tens of men and sexually molested, their cloths stripped in public and their breasts touched.
