A man sits beside a doll at an entertainment event in Beijing last November. (Photo: China Daily/Dong Dalu)
Gender imbalance arising from fewer women and men's liberal attitudes give makers of sex dolls and accessories a massive boost
In 1999, Shenzhen Feida Plastics Co Ltd was established as a processor of plastic products.
In its first several years, thousands of manufacturers based in the Pearl River Delta were quite familiar with the company's business, which was to process and sell plastic products, including packing bags and boxes, according to customers' needs.
However, the Shenzhen-based company began research and development of high-quality sex dolls in 2008, when China's sex toys market grew rapidly.
"The domestic demand for sex dolls grew very fast in recent years. That's why we decided to shift part of our business to the sex toys industry," said Wang Ran, a sales manager of Shenzhen Feida.
The company's sex dolls, whose prices range from about 500 yuan ($75.9) to 10,000 yuan each, are mainly made of silicone, which is used in the doll's "skin" and "flesh" while "bones" are made of metal.
Its 2015 sales of sex dolls doubled year-on-year, surpassing 10 million yuan, according to Wang.
The company also produced separate 'female' dolls that boasted almost life-like body parts like breasts, hips and genitalia.
"Our products are sold not only in the Chinese mainland but in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan," said Wang.
He attributed the rapid growth of the sex toys market mainly to the Chinese people's changing attitude toward sex. Men under 40 stand out in this regard.
"Chinese men, young people in particular, are no more conservative about sex, following the boom in Internet services," said Wang.
According to a 2014 market survey by JINGVO International, a Shenzhen-based e-commerce company that sells mainly sex toys, more than 75 percent of Chinese adults have used or are willing to use sex toys.
According to the survey, most users bought sex toys on e-commerce platforms.
On Taobao.com, China's leading online shopping site, sales of sex toys grew on average by 50 percent year-on-year in the past five years.
"After using sex dolls, some of them (consumers) said it's not a bad try," Wang told China Daily.
In addition to the changing sex attitudes of Chinese people, Wang said China's gender imbalance was also a key factor that is driving growth in the sex doll business.
"China's decades-long one-child policy and a traditional preference for sons has led to a severe gender imbalance, with some men finding it hard to find girlfriends," Wang said.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China had more than 700 million men by 2014, or 33.76 million more than the population of women.
Specifically, the rate between unmarried men and women born in 1980s was 136:100, according to the NBS.
"The gender imbalance has brought about great potential for market growth of sex toys," said Wang.
