SHANGHAI - The city's first sex education textbook for primary school students will be used in 18 schools in Shanghai in the coming semester.

The textbook, Boys and Girls, which the authors prefer to describe as gender education rather than sex education, was written by the Primary School Affiliated to the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, and will be piloted in 18 primary schools in Yangpu district.

"The reason why we call it gender education rather than sex education is that the textbook contains not only biological, but also psychological and moral knowledge," Xu Jing, vice-president of the primary school, told media.