The tragedy that has transpired for the two lovers makes it hard to believe that a Sexual Revolution is occurring in China, and yet, leaves little doubt. People internationally have offered support to the two sexual martyrs. Liu Xiaoli, whose daughter attends Chongqing, said: “What’s the point of expelling them? Everyone knows young people are doing this…when you have so many healthy young people together, it’s natural.”
Students are not the only promiscuous ones, though. Pan Suiming, President of the Sexology Research Institute attached to the People’s University of China insists that nearly three-quarters of all 25-29 year olds are having pre-marital sex. In a 2003 poll of China’s largest Cosmopolis, Shainghai, the study shows that over 30% have had pre-marital sex. In contrast, a similar 1997 poll revealed 40% of the people had not hugged or kissed prior to marriage. Li Yinhe, another sexologist found more expansive differences. At the end of the ‘80s, his report concludes that about 16% of people across China engaged in pre-marital sex. Today, he claims, that number is closer to Pan’s figure at around 70%. Mr. Pan argues that this trend is a sharp contrast to that of a generation earlier, and it has been steadily growing since 1980. China’s history regarding sex is reminiscent of most other societies- intolerant and puritanical. Yet, as Pan notes, “People need to realize that this sexual revolution is directly related to the Cultural Revolution and the repression that lasted for so long,” indeed, the American Sexual Revolution in the 1960s was very much tied to ideas of liberation and freedom.
‘Freedom’ seems to be a now common expression in China. “G-strings are cool… they empower sexual freedom and choice,” remarked a PR person on one of the hottest selling items to hit China, as quoted in the Miami Herald last December. Mu Zimei- pen name for sex columnist Li Li gives further evidence that the bourgeoning sexual counter culture. She emphasizes freedom as a cornerstone of her writing. “I want freedom. I don’t care about morality. I have the right to make love and the right to enjoy it. I like short relationships…that’s just the way I am.” Li has an openness that would put most Berkeley students to shame. First, she published her sexual encounter, in full detail, with a married rock star on her web-journal. If that was not contemptuous, she also posts sex tips and a detailed account of all of her sexual excursions which she claimed at least two sex sessions a week with various men, accruing over 70 since this past summer. Maybe far from Jenna Jamison’s record, but then, Li is not getting paid. The Ministry of Propaganda has prohibited the publishing of her semi-fictional first sexual experiences “Ashes of Love.” “There is an aggressive search for individualism and personal liberation occurring among China’s young- and Mu Zimei is an example,” said Victor Yuan, of the leading polling agency, Horizon. Other remarkable changes to how the population views sex include Beijing’s first sex culture exhibit, which was shut down after it received too much attention. Second, Lui Dalin, director and curator of the Chinese Sexual Culture Museum in Shanghai has more than 6,000 exhibits on display- that included sex toys. The museum, as well as the skin-tight and increasingly scantily clad youth in China’s metropolises is something that could not have been seen thirty years ago when the standard apparel was baggy clothes donned ‘Mao suits.’ Indeed, the taboos of yesterday are today’s sensations.
There are just a few problems with the sexual phenomena that is enrapturing China: it comes with strings attached that are not so alluring. For instance, AIDS has been steadily increasing in China in a correlation with increase in unprotected sex. The World Bank Report, released last November, indicates that 30 percent increase in HIV infection rates between 1995 and 2000 and a 58 percent increase in 2001 alone. While AIDS may take the limelight as a Sexually Transmitted Infection, other STIs are also on a rise in China’s urban cities. Yet another cited problem is prostitution. James Farrer, author of ‘Opening Up: Youth Sex Culture and Market Reform in Shanghai’ says, “The average county seat has a red light district.” These side affects seem to be taken with almost a whimsical attitude by many, a part of any sexual revolution that must be weathered. However, there is unfortunately, another societal factor that may have far lasting ramifications on the sexual transcendence of Chinese society: deliverance into privatization.
The ‘Western’ sexual revolution that blossomed in the 1960s and 70s was fueled by many social factors. However, one of those factors was repression, like that of the Chinese counterpart. The apex of the women’s sexual liberation movement was one of non-conformity. Yet today, sexual liberation is not about questioning the kinds of clothes you are forced to wear as it was then, but rather, buying the right kind of alluring lingerie at Victoria’s Secret. China seems to be incorporating a collusion of both: rebellious sexual activity, molded into the vision that the corporation wants. Liu Dalin, also a noted Sociologist, remarks, “The door of sex has been opened, but it is only half open.” Still, Mr. Liu is concerned with privatization and its ramifications as well, quoting in a USA Today article: “The fresh air comes in, but there will definitely be bugs that come in too.” Liu’s concerns for the growing sex industry are not unwarranted.
Lucrative capitalists, who realize what kind of profit margin they face for cosmetics, fashion and other accessories are not turning a blind eye to harmful results. Plastic surgeons in China, according to an article by the Chicago Sun, are getting ‘swamped with requests for breast enlargements, skin-whitening, limb lengthening and the creation of “double” eyelids.’ While Mao Ttse-tung’s cultural revolution banned traditional foot binding, the privatized sexual revolution may perhaps be a painful process. Indeed, many Chinese hospitals are seeing increased procedures for ‘repairing’ a woman’s hymen to give the appearance of virginity. Furthermore, thousands of stores are selling over the counter ‘at-home hymen repair kits.’ The process poses a threat to the woman’s health. Muzi Mei compares her sexual encounters to a CD: “if you want to listen, you listen. If you don’t, you turn it off.” Again, while that kind of sexual choice may be congruent to how many of us live our lives- you cannot so easily turn off the constant advertising that is driven into us. The question, then, becomes: are you willing to trade sexual freedom for the cost of corporate occupation?
The Chinese government, on the matter, seems to be a contradiction writ large. While they expel two university students for having sex, they were more than delighted to hold the ‘Miss World Beauty Pageant’ this past December. The event, televised to 2.2 billion people, is a pantheon of sex goddesses parading around displaying their ‘talent’ and sex appeal. The incentive for the Chinese government to do this? It brings in thousands of advertisers and millions in revenue. Several feminist and women’s groups protested the event. While the All China Women’s Federation did not protest the pageant, it said that it ‘opposes any activity that uses a woman’s body for commercial purposes.’ Li Li had a few words to add on this contradiction: “We have these interminable meetings, talk a lot about morality, but when it’s all over, people go home and return to their lives. Most of the propaganda guys I know have mistresses. I’ve even slept with some of them. That’s why they’re scared of morality- I know their secrets.”
The sexual revolution in China may bring great things- like hot nude models such as Tang Jiali (let your Google searches begin)- but also brings a fair amount of bondage. Xiao Ma, one of the expelled students, is certain that, “China is changing. With economic development comes social progress, so it’s natural that people’s views on sex should change.” Yet despite her optimism, social progress may foster social catastrophe vis-à-vis the events that have occurred in other societies that have ‘sexualized’. Indeed, If enthusiastic Chinese want the kind of sexual freedom they desire, it must be realized that in the ‘free market’ world that we live in, they also run the risk of importing such disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa and Self-mutilation. In thirty years, perhaps the phrase ‘Great Leap Forward’ will conjure up a pleasant sexual mantra along side ‘kama sutra’ and ‘sixty-nine’ as a hot sex position. Yet behind the excitement of ‘social progress’ and ‘sexcapades’ the double bind needs to be recognized and addressed before the panties hit the floor.
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