Sex in Guangzhou China

Picture your average street in Guangzhou and what comes to mind? The hairdressers, a dumpling shop, the tiny corner supermarket, and the sex shop. Sex shop, you cry! I don't remember passing that!

A sex shop in Guangzhou?

Chinese sex shops are easy to miss. They often appear nocturnally and normally have frosted windows or a blanket covering the door. It takes a trained eye to recognise one, but once you have the knack you realise that they are seemingly everywhere. Whenever I see a sex shop in china I always have the urge to find out just what they sell. Sadly I had never plucked up the courage to do so.

My opinion is that being a foreigner in China is hard enough already. From past experiences I know some locals think that all foreign men are sex maniacs, and I want nothing to do with strengthening their delusions.

Rolling out the red carpet for your shopping pleasure

Sex is a strange subject in china, it's quite taboo but is everywhere. From happy ending hair cuts, and 'massage parlours', to those ubiquitous calling cards posted under your hotel door. Speaking to my Chinese friends both male and female about the subject they immediately become either shy or dismissive telling me they know nothing about it. One good friend even said it was shameful to talk about such things!

There seems to be and open acknowledgement that such shops exist and a willingness to ignore them completely.

Sometimes when frequenting the cheaper shops and market stalls you will come across what is quite clearly (pardon my vulgarity ) a dildo. However instead of being labelled as such, it is sold as a 'lady massager' complete with a diagram showing pressure points on the neck and shoulder. Don’t get me wrong I am not saying everyone who buys one of these massagers is using it in more intimate areas, but why would it need to be waterproof? Perhaps I simply have a filthy mind.

Sex toys are out there, and are big business. China is the world's leading supplier of adult toys and exports them globally, but it is still quite uncommon to see them sold openly here.

I thought "exotic toy collection" meant rare Star Wars figurines

Imagine my surprise when I stumbled over Guangzhou's biggest sex shop slap bang in the middle of Tianhe! Named Buccone, it sits at the end of Huang Pu Dadao and is quite impossible to miss. With its subdued red and blue lighting, it looks like a microcosm of the red light district in Amsterdam, obviously a sex shop worth a visit.