Prudish communist China is far more infected by very, very, very dirty things

[Guest guest]

> shriadishakti , Latika Sethi

> <latikasethi> wrote:

> > Mr. Jagbir Singh

> >

> > You call yourself a sahajayogi and send such cheap mails. I would

> > like to from such a group where you share dirty

> > things with your sisters and brothers than sharing divine

> > knowledge given by Shri Mataji.

> >

> shriadishakti , " jagbir singh "

<adishakti_org> wrote:

>

> Latika, i do not know what has made you so prudish - the harsh

> desert of strictly purdah Oman or the narrow-minded righteousness

> that some SYs exhibit. (How long have you been living in that

> sterile desert?)

>

 

 

 

Shanghai adult toy fair hits the spot

Reuters, Fri 6 August, 2004 08:22

 

By Ben Blanchard

 

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Wu Xiao never thought he'd see the day --

China's first officially sanctioned exhibition of adult toys,

complete with leather body suits, vibrating rubber tongues and even

a U.S. adult movie star.

 

" It's revolutionary! " enthused Wu, the Shanghai sales manager for

Wenzhou Lover Health Product Co Ltd, China's largest producer of

what are known euphemistically in China as " adult health products " .

 

" China's changed so much since we started, " he said at the show

where dildos, vibrators, flavoured lubricants and condoms of every

conceivable shape, size and colour were on display.

 

While Shanghai was known as the " Whore of the Orient " in the

swinging 1920s and 30s, its brothels and wild cabarets were long ago

closed by the prudish Communists who swept to power in 1949.

 

But since China began opening up again in the late 1970s, attitudes

to sex have begun cautiously to change -- to the extent that the

Shanghai government approved the show that opened on Friday.

 

Opinions are changing fast, say industry insiders.

 

" It's true, there was some opposition when we went into business 11

years ago, " Wu Wei, president of Wenzhou Lover, told Reuters, adding

that he often test drove new products personally.

 

" Nobody else was making them and we saw the opportunity. I mean,

there's 1.3 billion people in China. What a market! " said 35-year-

old Wu Wei, a native of the southern coastal town of Wenzhou,

regarded as the cradle of private business in communist China.

 

The company is doing so well now that Wu predicted a 50 percent rise

in revenue this year from about $10 million in 2003, and is even

contemplating a stock market listing. It sells mainly to markets in

Japan, the United States and Europe.

 

" When we are number one or two in the world, then we'll list. I'm

sure that won't be long, " Wu Wei said, as curious visitors peered at

the multi-coloured gadgets on sale.

 

LOOKING FOR LOCAL GROWTH

 

Firms like Wenzhou Lover still face a struggle to persuade Chinese

to use toys that carry names such as " The Salsa Shaker, " " Pleasure

Periscope " and the unnerving-sounding " The Emperor " .

 

" We still sell 90 percent of our goods abroad, " sighed Fang Hong,

general manager of U.S.-invested firm Shaki Shenzhen. " It will take

at least 10 years to reverse that so we are selling mainly in China.

Chinese just don't get the concept of fun yet. "

 

In many respects, China -- where the use of sex toys has a recorded

history of thousands of years -- has long-ago shaken off its Maoist

strait-jacket.

 

You can no longer be arrested for being found with adult products at

home, said Wenzhou Lover's Shanghai sales manager Wu Xiao. That

could happen as recently as 15 years ago.

 

Pirated and illegal hard-core pornography is readily available on

street corners.

 

" If that's the only way they can get them I'd rather have them see

me than not, " U.S. adult movie star Cindy Crawford told Reuters.

 

Resplendent in pink mini-skirt and revealing plaid top, Crawford --

no relation to the world-famous U.S. supermodel of the same name --

was mobbed by Chinese men wanting her autograph because they

believed she was her more famous namesake.

 

" I don't have one of those, " said Xie Huazhen, who had come from the

southern province of Guangdong just to go to the show, as she

giggled into her handbag and looked at Crawford's own range of adult

toys.

 

" Actually, yes I do. I have several, " she admitted sheepishly a

second later, before scurrying off to another booth.

 

Shanghai adult toy fair hits the spot

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?

type=topNews & storyID=560387 & section=news