Like a virgin Let’s start with the good stuff. «Your virginity back in 20 minutes!» «No surgery, no shots, no medicine, no side-effects. For a cool 100 yuan ($14.60) you can have your ‘first time’ back anytime!» The ads for artificial hymens caught Ms Xie’s attention outside a Chongqing sex store. She lowered her head, put on sun glasses, went inside and purchased a box of «Virtuous Girl Red» hymens for her big day: her first physical union with her husband-to-be. The 100-yuan hymen kit contained RuneScape Gold, a small dark-red semitransparent plastic insert. Xie tore off its cover, inserted it and waited 20 minutes until it «melted», and then carefully climbed into bed where her husband-to-be was waiting, with a voice running through her head saying, «remember to act like you are RuneScape Gold in pain.» After a few ups and downs, moans and groans, they relaxed, turned on the light and excitedly spotted a liquid that looks like blood on the bed sheet. He smiled and held her tightly in his arms. She felt like she was standing at the door of heaven until his question drew her quickly back to earth. «Honey, what is that smell?» It turned out that the «user friendly guidelines» written on the Virtuous Girl package neglected to mention a significant drawback: the «blood» smells. They broke up eventually. Too much pressure Xie, 27, from Chongqing and who archlord gold, had had one previous partner prior to her «second virginity,» told the Global Times that the reason she faked her virginity was because of pressure from her ex-boyfriend’s family. «I wanted to tell him the truth before our wedding archlord gold because I thought he is open enough to accept me, » Xie said. «But one day I overheard the conversation between him and his mother, asking if he was my first man.» «Then I realized if virginity means so much to his family, then I have to do something,» she added. The worse was yet to come. The artificial virginal hymen ruined her would-be marriage, left her heartbroken and with pain whenever she urinated. After consulting doctors, Xie found she had contracted vaginitis as a result of the failed cover-up operation. «I don’t regret using a fake hymen, but last chaos gold, I don’t recommend others use one,» Xie said after 800 yuan in medical bills hadn’t rid her of vaginitis after eight months last chaos gold. Medical studies have shown that bleeding is not the only signal of a broken virginity. Some women are born without hymens; while others might accidentally rupture theirs long before any sexual activities, either by accident or through sporting activities. Still this common sense fails to reach some Chinese men or their future mother-in-laws. Many women in China are dumped or divorced after men deflowered them and found no bleeding, which causes many desperate women like Xie to fake their virginities. Since China opened up to the world 30 years ago, many things have changed. Yet the ancient standard of being a «traditional virtuous woman» is wow cd keys, still ingrained in many men’s minds. According to the 2007 Global Sex Report released by Durex, an international condom manufacture, the average age of «first contact» for Chinese people is 22, while the global average age is 17. Tan Zhonglun, 28, a doctor in Guangdong Province who recently got wow cd keys married, told the Global Times that some well- educated, open-minded young men in China still have their fingers crossed that their wives are virgins. «To be honest, we care. It is not that broken piece of tissue that bothers us, but the fact that other men had touched her before,» he said, admitting that the moment he found out his wife was a virgin, he took her even more seriously. He said young couples are more likely to accept sex outside marriage, however, for older generation it represents the highest moral standard for a family’s reputation. «If future in-laws pop that question, they only want to hear ‘yes’ from their future daughter-in-law,» he said. «I have to say that despite the modern education we receive, the traditional idea of virginity still lingers in men’s mind.» «I don’t want to lie,» said Li Jing, a 30-year-old single woman at a Beijing-based advertising company. «But still, it is not something you maple story power leveling, can say out loud. When people ask if I am a virgin or not, I say ‘Hmmm … I am a human being.'» According to a survey released early this maple story power leveling month by the National Working Committee on Children and Women under the State Council, 22.4 percent of Chinese people had experienced sex before marriage, and 60 percent are «relatively tolerant» towards sex before marriage. Perhaps if Xie had paid more for a Japanese-made fake hymen, her experience would not have been so painful, emotionally and physically. A box of two Japanese hymens can sell around 500 yuan, compared to those made in China that cost about 100 yuan. However, all online shops claim they are selling Japanese hymens and most warn that the cheaper models, such as Xie’s, will lead to vaginal infections. The distribution is also «buyer-friendly». People can choose from the local sex shop, buy on-line or contact a salesperson directly through a little advertisement posted in a public toilet. A salesman at dog carriers, xuexing.org, an online shop that sells fake hymens, told the Global Times that they receive «many orders everyday», not only from worried Chinese women but also from the United States, South Korea and Egypt. Bahador Bahrami, an Iranian neuroscientist working in Denmark dog carriers, bought two boxes online. Each box contained two «hymens.» «It is a gift for fun,» he told the Global Times. «It is the kind of product that will do immense good,» he said. «Virginity is still an important concept in Iran, even among the more progressive middle-class youths.» «The ones packed in a paper bag are made in China and cost 98 yuan; while the ones packed in a wooden box imported from Japan, 125 yuan, said the sales-man. «Buy five boxes at one time, you get 20 percent off,» he added. «Some Chinese ones are as low as 50 yuan.» Students and prostitutes are the main custom-ers, he said. An Internet search found one shop based on taobao.com selling second-time virginity. The shop, based in Hefei, Anhui Province, has sold around 100 hymens within a month. The price is an exorbitant 459-yuan per box, whereas in a sex shop, the same product will cost 120 yuan. To protect privacy, however, the thoughtful online shop owner created a fake link for their customers, from which a «Korean dress» is shown on their purchase record. Comparing to the fake hymens, surgery to restore a hymen can cost 10 times more at hospitals. «Re-created virgin» surgery at the private Beijing Wuzhou Female Hospital costs between 3,000-10,000 yuan, depending on the extent of the «damage.» The prices at public hospitals are much cheaper, ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 yuan, but they are likely to turn down patients on «moral grounds.» Zhou Hong, vice-president of Wuzhou Hospital and the director of the gynecologic division said, «Doctors at some public hospitals say ‘no’ to hymen repair surgery because they think it is not necessary and immoral to cheat their future husbands». The surgery, however, is fast and easy. It takes about half an hour. Patients can walk around at the same day of the surgery. It promises to give you «real blood, real pain» and that even an experienced man cannot tell his «virgin bride» is faking. «We still educate our patients that a woman’s value should not be judged by a piece of tissue, but if they insist, we would do it for her anyway,» Zhou added. Zhou’s patients are mainly women aged between 20-30. The surgery usually takes place before the marriage. She declined to tell the number of operations she conducts each month, saying she doesn’t want to encourage women to do it. The demand has been stable in the past decade. Chang’an Hospital in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province conducted over 300 operations in 2007 according to the hospital’s website. «From a medical point of view, the hymen is no more than a piece of tissue, yet people have given it too much symbolic meaning,» Zhou said. «We should free women from feeling guilty about not being a virgin on their wedding night. «Personally, I am not a supporter of the surgery,» Zhou repeated. However, she said she understands the necessity for restored hymen surgery and provides reassurance to her patients. «You shouldn’t worry at all, the right amount of blood will show up at the right time and in the place. Even if the man takes a close look down there, he can not tell the difference,» she said.