When it comes to sex, China Win, Singapore Lose
Capitalism and sex-toys in China | Family values | Economist.com
Some choice quotes from the article in The Economist:
Chief Wu’s name tops the list of donors to the temple displayed in the entrance. He is the wealthiest Wu they know in Yongqiang, a satellite town of Wenzhou, a city 365km (227 miles) south of Shanghai famed for its embrace of raw capitalism. And Chief Wu’s risqué line of products? No concern about that. He has done well, and in Wenzhou that is what counts. In the clan register they proudly point not only to Chief Wu’s name, but also to those of his three sons who help him control much of China’s burgeoning production, domestic sales and exports of “items for adult use”. Theirs is a very traditional Chinese family-run business.
So first we find out that this is a very traditional Chinese family.
Mr Wu pauses only briefly in the first section, adorned with reproductions of antique Chinese paintings of copulating couples. He points to one showing women in classical attire buying dildos from a street merchant. “Look, they used them in those days”, he says, as if to justify with historical precedent what comes next.
Hmmm, I wonder what the guardians of our historical ‘Asian Values’ have to say about that.
Mr Wu ushers the visitor into the main exhibition: row upon row of sex toys in a rainbow array of rubber, plastic, leather and—he proudly asks your correspondent to squeeze this one—a sponge-like material designed to simulate the texture of female flesh. Hung on one wall is a macabre line of near life-size inflatable dolls, their rouged mouths agape as if in horror at the implements before them: the Vertical Double Dong, the Occidental Vagina, the Waterproof Warhead Vibe (“Bathtime was never this fun”) and a variety of black leather and metal goods for fans of sadism and masochism (for overseas markets, that is; the Wus see S&M potential in China too, but party cadres do not).
Yup. Tradition, family values, clan allegiance, entrepreneurship and a healthy attitude towards sex. China Win, Singapore Lose.
