Suzhou is usually quite cold in March. However, on the day we met Mr. Liu Dalin, a local sexology master, for an interview, traces of warmth in the air heralded the coming of spring. Mr. Liu's gratified smile exuded a similar warmth.

Mr. Liu was famous in academic circles for the sex studies that he conducted as early as 1980, but attained public recognition only after 1999, when he set up China's first domestic sex culture museum on Shanghai's Nanjing Road.

But running the museum has not always been smooth sailing for Mr. Liu. In the six years since its opening, the museum has faced numerous controversies and even encountered the prospect of closing down to a lack of funds.

In April 2004, the media reported that the Sex Culture Museum would have to leave Shanghai, finding a new home in Tongli Town. But in Mr. Liu's opinion, this was sign of the museum's success, rather than an indication of its failure.

Now, one year later, the Sex Culture Museum has adapted to the new environment of Tongli, a comfort to Mr. Liu. According to Mr. Liu, objects handed down from earlier generations of Chinese are more abundant and of a better quality than those in other museums. Chinese culture is 5,000-years-old, and includes a rich and centuries-old culture of sex.

The oldest exhibits in the museum date back 9,000 years and more than 30 exhibits are 5,000 years old. In particular, the Sex Culture Park of Stone Carvings, which was completed at the end of last September, houses more than 60 stone carvings about sex. 
 
 
Editor: Catherine