Chinese bite 'forbidden fruit' at much younger age

That's the headline China's state-run news service Xinhua used for this story, which says the average age Chinese urban youths lose their virginity is now 17.4, nine years younger than when their grandparents first did the nasty.

The survey of 2,252 respondents [aged from 14 to 60] in seven major Chinese cities [including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi'an] shows that people between 51 and 60 years old first had sex at an average age of 26, those between 21 and 30 first had sex at 21.9 on average.

The result of this massive face-to-face survey is no surprise to Chinese sociologists.

But some disagree with the survey's findings. And what expert does Xinhua quote for this opinion of dissent? Why a "real estate dealer," of course. Because he "gets to know many young couples hunting for apartments to live together."

"Cohabitation is nothing to hide for young people. It is quite common among college students," he said. "But the average age of 17.4 is too low because most people didn't (have sex) until they go to college."

And he should know -- because he sells real estate.

The survey also reveals Chinese attitudes toward premarital sex. All together, nearly one out of five respondents approved of it. More young citizens approve premarital sexual relationships, and more men than women said "there is nothing wrong with it."

The relaxation of views toward sex in China is likely to in the future affect traditional Chinese family structures and the society at large, predicted Zhou Xiaozheng. "It's hard to rule out sex as the main factor of high divorce rate in the capital city of Beijing, which reached 50 percent last year."

In other local sex news, the second China International Adult Toys and Reproductive Health Exhibition, also known as the Adult Expo or even the Adult-Care Expo, will be held at the Shanghai International Exhibition Center from July 29-31. If you'd like to attend, fill out this form.

Also from Xinhua: Sex ignoramus outnumbers illiterate in China (their headline, not ours): "In the survey we conducted, not only youngsters, but many grow-ups are sex idiots, which is really dangerous and woeful," Xu was quoted by Wednesday's Nanjing Morning Post, a local newspaper in east China's Jiangsu Province, as saying, at a seminar on sex culture held there. "Many Chinese are too shy to talk about sex and take it as an 'evil' matter, which greatly distorted the society's objective recognition to sex and shed bad influence to those immaturities."

Image is of Salvador Dali's "Forbidden Fruit."