BEIJING — As China prepares to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in August, the country’s conservative communist administration is clamping down on sexual and other expression online in an effort to “clean up” society before the world comes calling.According to a recent global sexuality survey by condom manufacturer Durex, that may not be all that big a job. While the Chinese have sex an average 122 times a year (compared to a worldwide average of 103 times), they remain reticent to talk about it even with partners. About 44-percent of Chinese respondents said they do not tell their partners how they feel and what they like in bed.
That could explain why only about 24-percent of Chinese respondents reported experiencing orgasm “often.” Seventy-percent said they were not satisfied sexually, even though as a group Chinese respondents reported spending 35 minutes in each sexual session — only one minute less than the global average of 36 minutes.
They’re not going to give up trying, though: Eighty-percent of Chinese couples said they have sex every week; 36-percent admitted having sex three times a week or more.
Popular Chinese sexual activities include masturbation (84-percent admitted doing it “sometimes,” and 29-percent said “at least once a week”), massage (64 percent), fantasies of the imagination (63-percent) and sex-toy use (60-percent).
Perhaps not surprisingly, the Chinese also reported having fewer sex partners over the course of a lifetime. On average, Chinese men reported having four partners and women reported having two, compared to the global averages of 13 and seven, respectively.
Some Chinese sexuality researchers question the validity of the data.
“The frequency of a Chinese having sex a year, as suggested by the survey, is definitely too high,” Min Lefu, president of the Beijing Sex Education Society, told China Daily.
He also wondered from what part of China the respondents were selected, suggesting people in the economically developed coastal areas and those who have internet access are “more open-minded in general about sex.”
