A model dances at the 2015 China International Adult Toys and Reproductive Health Exhibition in Shanghai on April 10. Photo: IC

A statue shown at the exhibition last year Photo: CFP

In a country where sex-related news makes up a considerably large portion of social news, the discussion of sex is still very much a conversation meant to go on behind closed doors. From lectures to TV news and films works, video clips about sex-related topics are often accompanied by an army of mosaic blurs. However, compared to half a century ago when the discussion of sex was under tight control in China, these blurred images are already a big step.Of course in today's highly globalized world in which a big country across the Pacific has just legalized same-sex marriage, people in China interested in the topic of sex want more than just blurred images. This is where China in Mosaic, a 5-episode documentary produced by culture.ifeng.com, comes in.

Premiering on July 25 and with new episodes every Thursday, the show sets out to review the history of the sex culture in China since ancient times, covering more sex-tolerant eras such as the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and more conservative periods such as the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). According to Hu Tao, editor-in-chief for culture.ifeng.com, China in Mosaic is attempting to examine China's changing sex culture and offer a clearer picture of people's concepts of sex today.

Desire to be unleashed

"Mosaics on one hand symbolize the blind spots we have with sex culture, on the other hand they exist as a label that has stuck around due to political and ethical factors," said Hu at a forum on China in Mosaic on Thursday.

During the 1990s, sex culture primarily existed within scattered small and dark video stalls on the streets of Chinese cities. After the 2000s, it moved onto the piles of hard drives of millions of people across the country and, to a degree, filled in the sex education blank left by schools and society.

Nowadays, social news released through various media platforms have become the largest source for the public to discover and discuss sex-related issues.

"Featuring sexually suggestive titles and pictures, this type of social news has actually become an edgy tool that domestic websites use to attract traffic," said Hu.

"We noticed that public events concerning sex such as the anti-pornography drive in Dongguan [in Guangdong Province] last year and famous sexologist Li Yinhe's announcement of her lesbian identity have given rise to intense public discussion on the topic of sex. Behind this is people's increasing awareness in this regard."

While Hu admitted that he wasn't willing to let his family know he was attending a forum on a sex documentary, he feels his attendance was progress and he counts himself among the number of people who are making an effort to rip off the mosaic blur hiding sex culture in China.

The quiet sexual revolution

Coming hand-in-hand with the birth of such a documentary are issues arising from the keen eyes of China's regulatory institutions. In fact just before the show's premiere last week, Hu received instructions that while the name of the documentary was fine, there were too many sex scenes so the episode needed to be re-edited.

"China has just left the Middle Ages in terms of the country's development in sex culture," said Li Yinhe at the forum. A signature fighter for sexual freedom in China, Li's ideas about sex are considered by many to be far ahead of the country's policies, but even she agreed that a sexual revolution is taking place, albeit in a quiet way.

Conducting a survey about premarital sex in 2013, Li found that 71 percent of Chinese couples engage in premarital sex, a sharp contrast to the 15 percent she saw during the same survey in 1989. From a legal perspective, the country is also making rapid progress. A recent case saw a young female writer in Beijing who wrote seven erotic novels and earned over 80,000 clicks online was sentenced to four months detention since she violated the law on dissemination of obscene materials.

"She would be have been sentenced to death if the case were in 1996," said Li.

Society's tolerance of sex culture is also improving. Several years ago certain exhibition on sex toys has local officials hesitant to grant it permission while visitors that attended were afraid to have their picture taken. Now, however, such exhibitions, such as the 2015 China International Adult Toys and Reproductive Health Exhibition held in Shanghai in April, prove that sex in today's society is becoming less of a taboo.

Although much quieter than their Western counterparts shouting slogans like "Make Love Not War" in the 1960s, Chinese people now are also experiencing a similar sexual revolution, although in most cases it involves hiding themselves behind computer screens or forbidden books. The fact that China in Mosaic can even be found online is proof of this.

While the first episode focuses on ancient sex culture in China, upcoming episodes will introduce audiences to sex culture during the Cultural Revolution, in literature and screen works, and finally the ultimate question, the acceptance of the LGBT community in China.