Bo Gu / NBC News

A snapshot of the website that sells fake hymens.

BEIJING – Despite the gradual liberalization of attitudes towards pre-marital sex in China, as well as rampant prostitution and Internet pornography – a woman’s virginity is still highly valued by many men here, especially in rural areas.

So what’s a girl trying to disguise her past sexual experience to do?

Pretend to be a virgin.

Search the words “artificial hymen” on Google in Chinese, and you’ll get seven million results. Search “Joan of Arc Red,” and you’ll get over a million results – it’s the biggest selling brand in China’s growing fake hymen market. 
 
Try to appear ‘shy’ for 'a better effect'
A young woman looking for a solution to her awkward problem can simply log onto the website www.xuexing.org and pay $18.40 for two fake hymens nicely packed in a wooden box.  For $14.40, the same products come simply wrapped in a paper box.

The website says the goods were first invented in Japan in 1993 and then became popular in Thailand, followed by the rest of Southeast Asia before eventually making their way to the Middle East.

According to the instructions, the little piece of semitransparent tissue has no side effects and is made of a natural fibrin glue, a medical elastic substance, a soluble base and carboxymethocel.

“After you put this into the vagina, it’ll dissolve and expand. Have sex in about 20 to 30 minutes, and you’ll ‘bleed’,” explains the instructions.  “A better effect will be reached if you appear to be shy and in pain.”

Circumventing tradition
I first learned about this product through an anonymous text message that read, “Joan of Arc Red, no surgery, no injections, no pain, and it will re-virginize you in just a few minutes.”  I logged onto the website, and an online service agent began chatting with me immediately.

Refusing to tell me how many packs they sell on a daily basis because, the agent said, it’s a business secret, he was frank about the vast market for their product.  “A lot of new graduates buy them before they get married,” he wrote. “So do some prostitutes who want to get a better price from their customers.”

A few decades ago, it was commonplace for husbands to expect to see tell-tale red marks on their wedding night. But despite the fact that China is much less conservative today than it used to be, many brides are still judged the same way.

Bo Gu / NBC News

A photo of "Joan of Arc Red" on the product's website.

Lian Yue, a well-known columnist with “Shanghai Weekly,” has been giving love advice for ten years. He says a large number of his befuddled male readers tell him about their disappointment when they find out their girlfriends have had sexual experiences before them.  He also hears quite often from women concerned about losing their virginity to Mr. Wrong.

“The Chinese women’s social status is still low, and some of the husbands value wives for having their hymens intact,” said Lian. “This doesn’t necessarily just exist in rural areas. Some urban people have the same idea.”

Reconstructive surgery is an option
If the woman is well-off and prefers a more secure camouflage, surgery is an option to make her feel like a true virgin again.

Li Weifan, deputy president of the Beijing Wuzhou Women’s Hospital, spoke to NBC News quite openly about the “hymen reconstruction” they offer as one of their plastic surgery services.

“Around 10 to 20 percent of our patients come here for plastic surgeries like liposuction or breast implant,” she said.  “Some girls – a lot them are newly graduated college students – regret their previous sex life and come here to regain their virginity before they get married.”

Li said the hospital schedules a few surgeries every month, and the patients’ recovery time is about one month. The surgeries cost from $450 to 1,000. Due to privacy issues and the fact that many of the surgeries are done in private clinics, there are no official statistics on how many re-virginization surgeries are performed in China annually. However women’s hospitals like Wuzhou have become popular in China with young, affluent women because they can enjoy better service and greater privacy than in public hospitals.

Although the fake hymen product instructions claim there are no side effects, gynecologists do warn that it could cause infections. Doctors also warn that surgery induced fake hymens could rupture if the girls engage in physical exercise like riding a bike.

Despite the risks, becoming a virgin in a few minutes is not just a dream in China.  The easy-to-operate fake hymens are also used by women in the Middle East, where pre-marital sex still has a strong social stigma.

In Syria, an artificial hymen can be bought for $15 on the black market by girls who can’t afford to have hymen reconstruction surgery performed in underground clinics.  In 2009, a prominent religious leader in Cairo called for severe punishment of any person who facilitates the sale of artificial hymens, deeming it an immoral and corrupt act.

“It’s really not necessary at all to fake being a virgin, unless you have been raped and this really provides some comfort,” said Wang Xiaoyuan, a young editor in the Beijing office of Bazaar magazine.  “Women have no duty to keep their virginity before getting married.  If my boyfriend had a virgin complex, I’d absolutely find another guy. I think in the name of no discrimination in China, the difference between male and female does not get the respect it deserves.”

By Adrienne Mong/NBC News File

Spot the women in China's last Communist Party Congress.

BEIJING—China’s lawmaking body, the National People’s Congress (NPC), opened its annual session last weekend to great fanfare.  Watching the delegates pile in and out of the Great Hall of the People, we couldn’t help wondering: How is it that in a country of 1.3 billion, with nearly 3,000 NPC delegates, there are no women of national political prominence?

After all, Tuesday is International Women's Day, and China has a long history of strong women leaders. To name but a few: Empress Dowager Cixi, Empress Dowager Longyu, and of course two of the three Song sisters — Song Qingling (Madame Sun Yat-sen) and Song Meiling (Madame Chiang Kai-shek).

But the last time the leadership included a female official of note was Wu Yi, whom some Americans might remember as a formidable negotiator representing Chinese trade and economic interests until she retired as Vice Premier in 2008. Before Wu, the most recent government figure was the uber contemporary dragon-lady, Jiang Qing aka Madame Mao, who played an instrumental role in steering the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).

So where are the Wu Yis or (gulp) Jiang Qings of today?

Women in numbers
An initial glance at some facts and figures appears to underscore significant progress in gender equality—at least in the government sphere. 

Women today in China account for 40 percent of government officials, compared to below 33 percent in 1995—which incidentally was the when the Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing.

At least 21.3 percent of NPC delegates in 2008 were women (the latest available data, according to the All China Women’s Federation). In 1954, that figure was just 12 percent.

Impressive. But consider that the female proportion of NPC delegates has not significantly changed since the early 1970s, its been stuck around 21 percent since then.  

Women are even less well represented in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), making up fewer than 18 percent of the NPC’s main advisory body. 

The Communist Party fares about the same as the NPC itself.  Nearly 17 million of its members are women (as of the end of 2009), making up just 21.7 percent of overall Party membership.

In the top ranks?
Numbers for senior government positions seem less remarkable:

Adrienne Mong/NBC News File

Women supposedly hold up half the sky in China, but not inside the Great Hall of the People.

In China’s cabinet, the State Council, only three ministers out of the 28 ministries and commissions are women.

In China’s 656 cities, 670 mayors and vice-mayors are women.

Just 230 ministerial and vice-ministerial or provincial-level leaders are women, comprising roughly 10 percent of the overall total.

And the highest ranking woman in Chinese government today?

First State Councilor Liu Yandong, who is also the only female in the 25-person Politburo.  Liu’s official bio lists her past experience, but it’s unclear what exactly the Jiangsu native and Tsinghua University graduate does today in her role.

For most Chinese, at least the ones who’ve even heard of her, the only impression they have is, “She’s a woman, right?”

Update

For some indication of just how the Communist Party regards the issue of women in public office, take a look at the online version of one of its newspapers.  The People's Daily has, um, an interesting if somewhat retrograde take on the matter. One of the main photos on its cover shows a female reporter outside the meeting with the photo caption "Attractive female at NPC, CPPCC sessions."

With additional research from Emily Ni.