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Thursday, July 10, 2008
Sex and the (Chinese) city
Traditional Chinese society is as tight-laced as a chastity belt: In some parts of China, families still arrange marriages and casual dating is frowned on or forbidden outright.
But the success of Sex and the City - both the HBO television series and the recent movie - in China show that “a new generation of women has emerged”, according to the China Daily newspaper.
“Many women in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are choosing to lead lifestyles different from those of Chinese women in the past,” the newspaper, a mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, stated this month.
“These young urbanites say they highly prize independence, gender equality and personal expression.”
That freedom is a sharp contrast to China’s traditional mores: According to Confucian teachings - China’s chief philosophy until well into the 20th century - women were expected to bow to the wishes of their fathers and husbands.
The shift has also given women more sexual freedoms, the newspaper reported.
“If you ask sex-related questions to your parents, the probably will think you are a bad or strange kid, or, probably they even do not have enough sex education to explain anyway,” Xu Bingyu, a 29-year-old project manager told the China Daily.
“But now the once highly provocative idea of one-night stands, a frequent plot twist of the TV show, is no longer as shocking,” the paper said.
