BEIJING - 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.

The park's manager, Lu Xiaoqing, said Love Land would help people "enjoy a harmonious sex life."

"We are building the park for the good of the public," Lu said. "Sex is a taboo subject in China but people really need to have more access to information about it."

Taboo

Sex is not a topic for open discussion in China, where government figures show only 7 percent of women and slightly over 8 percent of men get immediate medical help for sexual problems.

Earlier this year, the government launched a national sex education campaign aimed at getting more people to seek treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and infertility, to try and break some of the taboos.

The newspaper said the park was inspired by a similar attraction on South Korea's Jeju island, also called Loveland.

China's Love Land appeared to help get the conversation going. Months before it opens, the park is already generating heated discussions among bloggers in cyberspace.

"It's just too much," wrote blogger "Autumn Rain" on the popular Chinese portal baidu.com. "It's only about getting your heart to beat faster."

"Overseas, this park would be considered artistic. But in Chongqing, it's just vulgar," wrote "Big Scandal."

Other bloggers supported the idea.

"I don't object. Young people need to start sex education young as China has a problem when it comes to this," wrote "Eaglefly."

Park manager Lu said he was happy with all the debate.

"It is quite normal to see so much discussion about it," he said earlier. "I have found that the majority of people support my idea but I have to pay attention and not make the park look vulgar and nasty." With reports from Chris Buckley and Ben Blanchard, Reuters.