Sex, lies and China’s uproar over a primary school textbook

For one Hangzhou mother browsing second-hand textbooks at her child’s primary school, the clear depictions of reproductive organs were just too much.

The book was part of a series called Cherish Life by Beijing Normal University that contained illustrations of male and female genitals, the physical changes of adolescence, discussions of sexual orientation and how to guard against sexual harassment.

In the chapter on conception and birth, the book details three stages: “father and mother love each other”,” father puts penis in mother’s vagina”, and “father’s sperm enters mother’s womb”.

In another chapter on sexual harassment, there is a picture of a woman asking a young boy to let her see his penis.

Other parts of the book describe homosexuality as a normal phenomenon.

The text was not an assigned for any particular class but available, like a library book, for pupils to borrow.