CHONGQING, China – A theme park set to open in October turned out to be as risky as risqué for developers. Love Land, which was to feature explicit exhibits of genitalia and sexual culture, was demolished over the weekend by order of the national government.

A government spokesman declined to give a reason for the demolition, but widespread supposition has attributed the order to mockery and condemnation aimed at the park after pictures surfaced on the internet last week. Among the images were depictions of the park’s gateway, featuring a woman’s lower torso with its spread legs sporting a bright-red thong, and oversized reproductions of male and female genitalia.

In addition, attractions rumored to be planned for the park included sexual history lessons, comparisons of sexual culture worldwide and so-called “sex technique workshops.”

According to its developers, the park — inspired by a popular, similar attraction in Jeju, South Korea — was intended to boost sexual awareness and help people improve their sex lives. That may have scandalized the national government, which bans pornography at the same time it encourages an almost clinical approach to sexuality. However, sex toys are sold openly in neighborhood shops and premarital sex is embraced, as is prostitution (although technically the latter is illegal). That many government officials and prominent businessmen keep mistresses is an open secret.

The now-demolished park, however, was another matter. When reports and images began to hit the Web last week, officials and local residents decried the developers’ brazenness as vulgar.

“These things are too exposed,” a policewoman in Chongqing told China Daily. “I will feel uncomfortable to look at them when other people are around.”

A discussion participant at Sina.com noted, “These vulgar sex installations will only make people sick.”

(Image: China Daily)