Liu Chennan, a 19-year-old volunteer from Central University for Nationalities in Beijing, is holding a banana in his hand to demonstrate how to properly use a condom.

Around him, 30 college students, aged 18 to 22, held their breath and watched his every move carefully.

“How do you take it off?” one student suddenly asked, the meeting hall at Beijing University burst into laughter.

In a country that rarely discusses sex publicly, it is the first time for those college students to be able to ask straight questions about sex.

This is due in part to peer education programs that began to emerge in China. The programs are spreading knowledge on how to use contraception, prevent HIV/AIDS, deal with sexual harassment and even refuse the sexual advances.

First introduced to China in 1996 from Australia, peer education has played an increasing role in sex education among Chinese youth, who health experts said would be vulnerable to unwanted pregnancy and AIDS.

International non-governmental organizations such as Marie Stopes China, a branch of British non-commercial public service organization, has spearheaded a program in China. The group has been conducting peer education about sex and reproductive health issues for students in eight Beijing universities since Sept. 2003. They also have so far trained 200 student peer educators.

Cui Qi, program officer of Marie Stopes China, said such peer education would help more teenagers and youngsters develop a correct attitude towards sex, drugs, sexual discrimination given its interactive communication.

“It is not a lecture, neither an academic seminar. It is a game,” Cui said, “Young people should be given a chance to learn how to make rational and proper decisions on sexual relationship and reproductive health.”

Peng Zhu, a freshman from China's prestigious Beijing University, agreed: “This is my first time to have ever been to such peer education occasion. I feel quite relaxed instead of embarrassed when talking about sex.”

“It is a good idea to be a sex and reproductive health trainer and to share my knowledge with classmates,” Peng said.

Peer education experts said it is necessary to further expand such education among Chinese young people. The HIV/AIDS epidemic threatens 200 million teenagers, who often do not have access to information about sex due to the country's conservative traditions.

Governments have been urged to pay greater attention to training more sex education teachers in primary and middle schools while cultivating more professionals through opening sexology majors in some universities.

“Teenagers have become sexually mature and active much earlier, but lack of sexual education will put them in a position that’s very vulnerable HIV/AIDS,” said Liu Liqing, chief representative of Marie Stopes to its China Office.

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2004)