The condom wagon lands in China to cash in on safe sex
(Cityweekend)
Updated: 2005-11-02 11:52

It all started with Durex. This condom manufacture released a survey in 2003 that found that Chinese are the world's most likely to agree to unprotected sex with a new partner, and later it was discovered by UNAIDS that 30 percent of Chinese who get HIV do so through unsafe sex.

All this alarming news started a buzz in China about sex, condoms and spreading the gospel of protected intercourse.

"Condom news" has become a regular fixture in the Chinese media and everyone is talking about sex (which does not have anything to do with TLC).

Recently, administrators at Beijing's top universities have announced new rules to curb promiscuity in dorms, which has in turn backfired as couples are taking their business outside.

Under bushes, in parks and next to lakes around university campuses it is not uncommon to stumble upon couples in the act. One university student acknowledged that most of these spontaneous love acts were unprotected, as it is not too sexy to get up from the park, walk back to the dorms and then return a half hour later with a condom.

In the face of unflattering unprotected sex statistics, the Chinese government has taken the problem by the horns and will distribute more than 300 million condoms to the general population.

"If people could get a condom as conveniently and naturally as buying a Chinese cabbage, the AIDS prevention function carried out by condoms could finally imbue people's lives and change their bias (against condoms)," Tao Ran, of the China Youth HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Fund, told Xinhua.

Health experts have called for "100 percent" condom use programs throughout China, a campaign that will use "no condom, no sex" as its slogan.

And smart entrepreneurs everywhere have jumped on the China condom bandwagon. The most intriguing of late are no doubt the Clinton/Lewinsky condoms put on sale in China this October.

A box of 12 Clinton condoms, named after former US President Bill Clinton, cost about US$3.70 and that of former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, the Lewinsky condoms, cost a mere US$2.25. Jabs abounded on the Net about the cheaper Lewinsky condoms, but in the end everyone was asking why Clinton and Lewinsky?

"We chose the name because we think Clinton is a symbol of success and a man of responsibility. And Lewinsky is a woman who dares to love and dares to hate," said Liu Wenhua, the general manager of Haojian Bioscience Co. as reported by the LA Times.

"We haven't told Clinton about this yet, but maybe you could help us find him," Liu added. "We'd like to tell him how respected he is in China, so we can boost his confidence and help his career."

Whatever the reason, let's hope China's youth get the message and get on the wagon.