China to teach sex education to teens, newspaper says
(Adolescent Health-January 29, 2004)

China's largest cities have begun offering sex education to younger teenagers, as healthier diets push children toward earlier puberty, a newspaper reported on January 2, 2004.

Rapid economic growth has fueled huge changes in Chinese society. Medical experts say improved diets in China's big cities means girls are entering puberty around the age of 11, about 2 years earlier than in the past, the Shanghai Daily reported.

"While physical maturity keeps advancing, girls, as a vulnerable group, are still immature psychologically," the paper quoted Huang Hong from the Shanghai No. 2 Medical University as saying. He cited the case of a 15-year-old girl who delivered a baby boy and then accidentally killed him while trying to keep her pregnancy a secret.

Shanghai, Beijing, and the western city of Chongqing are testing new sex education for middle school girls - who are generally 12 to 14 years old - in a program set up by the State Education Commission and Procter & Gamble's China branch, the report said.

Next year, the program will be expanded to more than 300 cities around China, the newspaper said.

Girls in Shanghai interviewed by the newspaper said they welcomed the new classes. "My mother seldom discussed sex with me," said student Zhang Xujun. "Books, the Internet, and friends are the main sources [of information] for me."

Teachers offered praise as well. "It is really difficult for Chinese people to talk with young kids about anything related to sex," Chen Xinna, a Beijing Medical University professor who delivered some of middle-school lectures, told the paper. "The result is that young people are puzzled and anxious when facing such problems." This article was prepared by Women's Health Weekly editors from staff and other reports.



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