China sex theme park comes to abrupt end

A sculpture of a giant pair of women's legs wearing a red thong is dismantled by workers at Love Land, China's first sexually explicit theme park, in Chongqing municipality May 16, 2009.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's first sexually explicit theme park was torn down before it even started, after an outcry from officials, a Chinese newspaper reported on Monday.

Love Land, set to open in October in the southwestern city of Chongqing, featured exhibits on sexual history and how-to workshops, the China Daily newspaper reported last week.

A picture of the park entrance showed a signboard with the park's name straddled by a giant pair of women's legs topped by a red thong.

But the plans left Chongqing officials red-faced. They ordered the park torn down over the weekend, the China Daily reported.

Officials called the planned park "vulgar, ill-minded and misleading," said the paper. Many Chinese citizens apparently agreed.

The park had drawn controversy on the Internet, with some calling it too much, even for fast-living Chongqing, while others praised it as a step forward for sexual candor.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Ken Wills and Valerie Lee)