Ma Xiaonian, a well-known sexual therapist and director of the Chinese Sexual Counseling and Therapy Committee, said that "in the 1980s, most patients came to me with women's sexual problem, but in recent years it has been men's sexual problems that have concerned most of my patients."

"The trend among the men consulting doctors about their reproductive problems is that they are getting younger and younger, and many men under 30 have sexual problems," he said at the forum on high and new technology for family planning and reproductive health.

Experts at the forum agreed that growing work pressure and worsening environmental pollution in recent years have resulted in increasing incidence of men's reproductive health problems, such as prostate hyperplasia, sexual dysfunction, lower quality of semen and even sterility.

With China opening wider to the outside world, the Western idea of "sexual liberation" has penetrated through the country, and venereal disease and AIDS have become serious threat to Chinese men, they said.

Professor Guo Yinglu of Beijing University's Urology Institute said there are is a large variety of drugs for men on the Chinese market, but the effectiveness of some drugs needs to be clinically tested.

This is also dangerous for men's health, added Guo, who is also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

He called for stringent measures to crack down on fake drugs and ads, and appealed Chinese men to do more physical exercise, have regular medical check and keep a good morality in terms of sex.

The symposium, part of China's first exposition on high and new technology and products in the family planning and reproductive health fields, opened in Beijing Wednesday to mark World Population Day and will end Saturday.

(People’s Daily 07/15/2001)