China Strips Down Sexual Mores

After years of Maoist repression, during which sex was considered bourgeois and hand-holding was a major taboo, Beijing is alive with seedy clubs and no-tell motels catering to one-night stands. Most Chinese—60% to 70%—have indulged in premarital sex, compared with just 15% in 1989. But lingering disapproval has kept the revolution largely underground, the AP reports.

Young people are still reluctant to say the word “sex” around anyone but their closest friends, and adults are uneasy discussing the topic. That means sex education is lagging badly. During school breaks, Shanghai abortion clinics get 80% of their business from high-school girls. "If you don't talk directly about sex, it's an incomplete sex education,” said one expert. (More China stories.)