A new website that offers Mandarin lessons taught by lingerie-clad young women has come under fire from a women's group, which says the practice promotes harmful stereotypes.
Sexy Mandarin, headquartered in Hong Kong and geared towards Western customers who want to improve their grasp of the language, aims to provide lessons 'in a sexy and unconventional way'.
In each lesson, scantily clad models strike provocative poses while saying basic Mandarin phrases. The video clips - shot in a studio in the Philippines, according to the website - simulate playful situations in car-washing, a medical check-up and even 'arrests' featuring a model in a police costume to teach words and colloquial terms.
Clients can log on to the Mandarin Learners Channel on YouTube to view the latest lesson for free. The channel, which has its own Facebook page, has more than 1,300 subscribers and features advertisements for fashion accessories and lingerie.
The Association for the Advancement of Feminism accused the company of 'selling sex or sexualised services under the packaging of language tuition'.
Annie Chan, the group's chairwoman, said the site 'sexualised and exoticised 'Chineseness', and is obviously trying to capitalise on some Westerners' stereotypes of Chinese women'.