SEX DRUGS Getting a rise out of China
Tuesday, March 16, 1999
By JOHN GITTINGS in Beijing
For centuries the Chinese have been credited with discovering many of the
staples of modern life centuries before the West. But it appears that one more
invention must be added to a list that includes gunpowder, paper and porcelain
- a Chinese doctor claims he has found a herbal equivalent to Viagra.
The People's Daily recently devoted a full page to the Kaitai capsule, as the
National People's Congress - China's annual parliament - prepared for its final
session.
It claimed that Kaitai, a medicine from the north-eastern province of Liaoning,
can vanquish "sexual apathy" far more successfully than Viagra, from the
capitalist US.
According to the report, lavishly illustrated with tables and charts, Kaitai is
more likely to encourage male rats to mount females, and, it claims, appears to
be "superior to Viagra in increasing time of ejaculation".
As delegates to the congress discussed how to create an "enterprise culture"
across China, the Communist Party's national organ chose Kaitai as a model of
business stimulation.
It is already a great success on Dong Dan, the shopping street east of the Great
Hall of the People in Beijing. "All the old men have been asking for it," said the
dispenser in the Oriental Drugstore. "It's selling very well."
Kaitai is marketed with a tasteful design of a Greek Apollo and a nymph
adopting various positions which spell out the English-looking word "KissTie" -
a name chosen by the manufacturers to add a foreign touch.
The People's Daily offers the story of Kaitai as a shining example of patriotic
endeavour.
Its inventor, Professor Wang Yiming, first isolated Kaitai in 1969, as the
Cultural Revolution swept the country. Chinese soldiers clashed with Russian
troops at Chenbao Island on the disputed Sino-Soviet border.
Searching for a medicine to treat burns, Professor Wang noticed that a plant
preparation he was using had a remarkable capacity for enlarging blood
vessels. He was eager to investigate further, but was prevented from doing so
by militant Red Guards.
If it had not been for the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, says the People's
Daily report, Professor Wang's research would not have been delayed so long.
But he was still years ahead of the Western scientists whose discoveries led to
Viagra.
Resuming his research, Prof Wang applied the preparation to the treatment of
sexual disorders.
The entrepreneurs who now market Kaitai obtained Viagra on the black
market last year to carry out a clinical comparison.
Professor Wang claims that the tests proved that Kaitai was a winner, and he
says he is prepared to testify before the United Nations that his product is
superior to Viagra.
- The Guardian, London
smh.com.au |
