BEIJING, Nov. 14 -- The country's first sex museum will lift its age restriction to open to minors for the first time, as it attempts to become a sex education base for youngsters.

    Founders of the Ancient Chinese Sex Culture Museum said yesterday that they would also team up with a local polytechnic school to turn the museum into a training base for sex education teachers.

    They wouldn't provide the name of the school, however.

    Since it opened in 1995, the sex museum, which is now located in Tongli, Zhejiang Province, has been closed to anyone under the age of 18.

    The museum's owners feared admitting minors would lead to unnecessary opposition from the public, according to founder Liu Dalin, a retired sociological professor from Shanghai University.

    "But with society's increasing understanding of sex, a growing number of people come to realize that it's a pity to hide such good education materials from youngsters," said Hu Hongxia, Liu's partner.

    "It was even considered a waste of precious cultural materials," Hu said.

    Some exhibits that are considered too graphic will be kept in a special hall that will remain closed to minors, and young visitors will be asked to watch a 30-minute sex education video.

    Hu and Liu wouldn't say when the museum will open to minors, only saying it would happen "as soon as possible."

    Hu also said that they have finished compiling a set of sex education textbooks for university students, which cover a wide range of topics such as marriage and AIDS prevention.

    The textbooks are scheduled to be published in January.

    Originally located on downtown Wuding Road, the sex museum was forced to move to its current location in Jiangsu in 2003 due to low attendance and high rent.

(Source: China Daily)