Lust caution: Lifting the lid on erotic Shanghai

As Cole Porter might well have sung: "Birds do it, bees do it, Chinese -- in their millions -- do it."

A culture preoccupied with "face," a strong sense of privacy and an unfriendly political climate have made Chinese people more apprehensive about eroticism than residents in the libertine capitalist strongholds elsewhere in the world.

At least in Shanghai, however, behind the facade there's a world to discover.

Kara Bierley, the 24-year-old Texas-born owner of adult shop Amy’s Bedroom, has already opened her second branch in the city, and she declares Shanghainese people love carnal products just as much as anybody else.

“I see conspicuous consumption all around me,” she says.

Here are Bierley's top five remarkable erotic destinations in Shanghai.

1. Buccone (枕边游戏)

Adult toy shops in Shanghai are becoming less dubious and more classy.

With 32 shops nationally showcasing more than 4,000 products, Buccone is China’s undisputed leader of adult toys, or, as 49-year-old founder Mingta Tsai prefers to call them, “pillow-side games.”

“We want to make Chinese people know that there are items and processes that can elevate their sexual life, vent off stress, create harmony,” Guangzhou-born, U.S.-educated Tsai says.

To achieve this edifying mission, Buccone deconstructs the myth of lurid and seedy adult shops.

With dimmed lights and products kept inside glass shrines, the 200-square-meter Shanghai flagship store looks more like a contemporary art museum, provided the visitor turns a blind eye to the red-feathered doll section by the entrance.

Popular products are Shunga (from RMB 300), which are scented astringent or desensitizing lotions inspired by 18th-century Japanese erotic culture.

Among female accessories, top-sellers are Scandinavian brand Lelo which, says Tsai, luxury-hungry Chinese consumers expecially like.

While the gold-plated Lelo items are only available upon reservation, prices for the ordinary collection start at RMB 888.

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Buccone, 3822 Hongmei Lu, near Yan’an Xi Lu 虹梅路3822号, 近延安西路, +86 135 2788 3261, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., www.buccone.com

2. Kaixuan Gate Health Product Market (凯旋门保健品市场地址)

Many "health product" booths in Shanghai are helmed by middle-aged ladies.

This wholesale market is a necessary destination for anyone looking for quantity over quality.

While assortment starts euphemistically with ginseng and seahorse infusion at the lower floors, the market escalates at the fourth floor, with dozens of adult shops selling a disparate array of erotic paraphernalia.

Hundreds of phallic substitutes are available here, starting from RMB 8, including ingenious products such as the “Hummingbird,” with talking and music function and items with built-in periscopic light and window for combined stimulation and exploration.

In the Chinese medicine section, shoppers will find traditional remedies like black ant pills, the allegedly miraculous tiger penis oil and more exotic products such as the “Tibetan King,” a selected blend of yak, yellow ox and deer penis for potency.

Price for Chinese medicine starts from around RMB 50.

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Kaixuan Gate Health Product Market, No 428 Tianmu Zhonglu, near Wuzhen Lu 天目中路428号, 近乌镇路, 9 a.m.–6 p.m., +86 21 6353 3839

3. Honey Time (阳光桔子)

Titillating erotic culture has gained a foothold at Shanghai's jam-packed metro station.

Latex takes the most whimsical shapes at Taiwanese condom brand Honey Time.

In Shanghai, the chain has a tiny shop at the exit of People’s Square metro station, and its cutesy and playful style attracts crowds of passers-by.

As the shop attendant, who refused to disclose her name for privacy reasons, explains, customers often do not realize what they've got into until they step inside the shop and touch the products.

There is rubber for all tastes and needs: super-thin, super-thick, dotted, vibrating, strawberry-flavored, honey-lubricated, hand-painted -- as well as more unusual choices like the rabbit-shaped and the night-glowing and even the metered ones for users with a size complex.

And while most customers seem to be open about the merchandise, there are also more austere items, packaged in chewing gum packets or traditional Chinese silk sachets to disguise the content.

Prices range from RMB 14-40 for a six-item packet.

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Honey Time, BE-006, Huasheng Metro Shopping Hall, No 19 Nanjing Xi Lu, near Xizang Zhong Lu 南京西路19号华盛街 BE-006, 近西藏中路, 9:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m., +86 21 6327 6020

4. China Sex Museum (中国古代性文化博物馆)

Professor Liu Dalin and a specialized "marriage bed" from Qing Dynasty at his museum.

This is a perfect day trip for anyone who wants to escape from the stress of Shanghai and surrender to the peace of senses.

Located at a Qing-dynasty garden house in the tranquil water town Tongli, the Museum of Ancient Chinese Sex Culture defeats the traditionally conservative stereotype of China and shows the concealed history of China’s eroticism in all its explicit tumescence.

Some 1,500 artifacts, collected by 79-year-old retired sociologist Liu Dalin (刘达临), span 4,500 years of sexual representation, from prehistoric phallic rock carvings to vulval-themed decorations on fine porcelain.

Particularly remarkable are the statues of highly “gifted” Buddhas, the collection of bronze bondage gears and the section dedicated to bestiality.

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Museum of Ancient Chinese Sex Culture 中国古代性文化博物馆, no address, follow the signs inside Tongli Old Town, admission: RMB 20, 7:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m.; Tongli Tourism Bureau, +86 512 6333 1140

5. Kangding Lu red-light district

Avoid pink-lit parlors like this if you expect a real haircut.

Long gone are the days when Simalu (today’s Fuzhou Lu) was Asia’s most infamous red-light district and the foremost symbol of imperialist decadence.

After 1949, the government banned prostitution and cracked down on the flesh trade all around Shanghai.

Nonetheless, there are now an estimated 21 red-light areas in the central districts of Shanghai alone. These are concentrations of massage parlors and hairdressers that informally provide more than what is on the menu

One of the most central of these is the Kangding Lu between Jiangning Lu and Taixing Lu, where after 10 p.m. male passers-by will be often lured by pajamas-clad girls and asked to stop by for a massage.

According to Lulu (露露), a 24-year-old girl from Anhui province who "works" on the street, price for the special services depend on age, physical aspect of the candidate and frequency of visits.

Kangding Lu, between Jiangning Lu and Taixing Lu 江宁路和泰兴路之间的康定路, 10 p.m.-6 a.m.