Karaoke bars with prostitute hostesses are standard fare in Chinese cities, college students accept jobs as highly paid mistresses, sex stores are as common as corner convenience shops, venereal disease and HIV/AIDS are soaring, and China's social media are buzzing with conversation and debate about sex. The story of sex in China is as improbable as it is intriguing. China hand Richard Burger takes the reader on an exploration of the country's complex transformation from a once sexually open society to one of the most prudish, followed by a stunning turn in recent years towards new sexual freedoms.