Chinese sex toys see new dawn

Lin said around 70 percent of his clients, mostly in their 20s and early 30s, were male. Most purchase items -- the favourite being a double vibrator -- for their girlfriends.

At Yamete Love Store, in a residential area of downtown Shanghai, customers can browse items ranging from inflatable dolls to sexy costumes amid low-key lighting as mellow music plays. Most of the items are imported from Japan and Sweden, and carry prices from $100 to $210.

Most shoppers, though, still seem to prefer buying online.

I feel too embarrassed to buy any sex toys in actual stores, said Candice Zheng, a 25- year-old office worker in Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai. I just order them from on-line shops.