Feel Like Making Love?

When I was in Shanghai last month, I visited the Chinese Sex Culture Museum. It was at the end of the Bund Tourist Tunnel, that psychedelic trip through time and space I posted a video of a couple of weeks ago.

For some reason we weren’t supposed to take any photos inside the museum (perhaps pictures of ancient wooden penises and vaginas are considered porn in China) but I managed to smuggle this one out. If you can’t read the caption, it says:

“Two bamboo Figures were used for delivering the signal of making love of Shao nationality, Taiwan. When the husband see the penis of the figure is in erections, it means the wife wants to make coitus; if the penis is in down position, then not.”


I don’t know why any museum would ban photography in totality. Flash photography I can understand – it’s a complete pain in the arse to other people trying to enjoy the place, plus it can damage light-sensitive materials – but regular photography does no damage and can help build word-of-mouth advertising for museums and other tourist destinations. Captain Oddsocks encountered a similar problem in the Czech Republic recently and is debating the issue here.

As a special treat, here’s the video of Bad Company’s fantastic hit from 1975, which inspired the title for this post (and perhaps my birth).


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2 responses to “Feel Like Making Love?”

  1. phauna Avatar
    phauna

    Mostly it’s so you are forced to buy a picture book of the displays. It’s the same in Egypt.

    However it could also be that lots of stupid people would just take a photo, not knowing their flash would go off.

    When I went to the Shaolin Temple there was a really old mural on the wall, and lots of signs saying don’t take a picture. Of course, some Chinese guy immediately took a picture, and unlike in every other museum in China, something was done about it. A monk sitting close by stood up and started shouting at this guy. A Shaolin monk, mind you. The man seemed ready to cry and accept the inevitable death touch. Two other monks came rushing over. They kicked him out, while screaming at him constantly.

    No one else took a picture.

  2. lisa Avatar
    lisa

    Mark, one of your Aunty’s favorite songs but unfortunately don’t think your mum had any of my coolness.

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