Controversy over sex ed textbook
Society & Culture
Top society and culture news for March 6, 2017. Part of the daily The China Project news roundup "New airport in Tibet near disputed border."
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Sex education textbook recalled by school after complaints from parents / Global Times (in Chinese)
A groundbreaking Chinese elementary school textbook on sexual education stirred debate on Sina Weibo over the weekend. Featuring explicit illustrations of intercouse and controversial topics like homosexuality, the book first came to public attention when a mother from Hangzhou posted several photos of illustrations in the book to the social media platform Weibo and wrote, “Is it appropriate for a second-grade kid to study this?” According to China’s News Service, the materials involved had undergone strict scrutiny before being published. Many internet users praised the book as an advanced move for China’s sexual education, which has been criticized as deficient for many years. The book also contains information intended to teach children how to protect themselves against sexual abuse. At least one school (in Hangzhou) decided to recall the books. -
No more utopias / LA Review of Books
In “Foreigners Under Mao: Western Lives in China, 1949-1976,” author Beverly Hooper depicts “the Mao-era experiences of that tiny community of Western diplomats, journalists, foreign experts, and students — along with a very special cohort, the ‘long-term friends of China,’ consisting mostly of Americans and a few Brits who saw the Chinese Communist Party as the bright hope for a socialist future.”
- China eyes better elder care by 2020 – includes an estimate that the number of people over age 60 in China will reach 255 million by 2020 / Xinhua
- Beijing park proudly confirms it will continue to provide free toilet paper for patrons to steal / The Beijinger
- Storm of criticism over proposal to lower China’s legal marriage age to 18 / What’s on Weibo
- China to open football academy modeled on Barcelona’s La Masia / The Guardian
- For Colombian drug mules, trip to China can be lucrative but deadly / SCMP
