China’s government and people are at odds over the closing of the country’s first sex park.  The park featured sexually explicit sculptures and exhibits, and contained informational displays on sexual techniques and safe-sex practices. 

We’re following worldwide reaction to this story and we begin

The BBC reports that Love Land park in the southwestern city of Chongqing, scheduled to open in October, has been shut down by local public officials and demolition has begun.  

They have this perspective from the park manager who disagrees with the demolition.

"We are building the park for the good of the public ... Sex is a taboo subject in China but people really need to have more access to information about it."

“I have found that the majority of people support my idea, but I have to pay attention and not make the park look vulgar and nasty.”

But according to public officials quoted in The Guardian and The Times Online, that’s not how the government sees it.

"The investigation determined the park's content was vulgar and that it was neither healthy nor educational. It had had an evil influence on society and had to be torn down immediately.” 

"Ignored its social responsibility and was interested only in profiting from sensationalism."

The South African Times puts the park in a global perspective with others like it.

“When it comes to sex, it seems the Chinese are somewhat more squeamish than the Dutch whose sex museum in Amsterdam is a de rigueur stop for snickering travelers... nor, apparently, are they like the South Koreans whose “how to” sex park called Jeju Loveland on Cheju Island is reputed to be a hot and heavy breathing spot for honeymooners.”

The park originated on the heels of a government-launched national sex education campaign earlier this year designed to raise awareness of sexually transmitted diseases.