The way things used to be

"No premarital sex. That was the education or social principle that I received in my childhood," said Zhu Guizhen, a retired primary school teacher in Kunming, the capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan.

"When I was in high school, girls used to spit on boys who displayed affection toward them. It was widely seen as a way of showing a girl's purity. Premarital sex was very rare in my generation," the 59-year-old said.

For thousands of years, sex was not discussed openly in China. Even today, it is taboo. There is no sex education in schools, only lectures on psychological health with little practical knowledge. Parents also avoid discussing the issue with their children because they don't know how to do so.