A sexuality expert has said that sex education is the most effective method to teach children how to protect themselves from sexual assault.

Hu Zhen, director of the Sichuan Provincial Adolescent Sexual Health Education Popularization Base, made the statement at the 5th Asian Conference on Sexuality Education (ACSE) in Chengdu, capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, on August 13, 2013.

She also said that the fact that sexual assault cases involving children are on the rise in China reflects the lack of sex education in the country.

The conference was attended by more than 400 experts and representatives from China, Japan, the United States, Italy, England and other countries. They talked about sex education in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan and shared their experiences in this field. The consensus was that the recent string of child sexual abuse cases in China are cause for concern.

The cases have outraged the public and caused many people to question management systems that allow teachers and civil servants to victimize children. There have also been increasing calls for sexuality education to be given in schools and for more parents to talk to their young children about sexuality, their bodies, and what constitutes inappropriate physical behavior.

Susie, an official from the Ford Foundation (Beijing), said at the conference that sex education is helpful for children when it comes to preventing sexual assault, but she prefers a more comprehensive sex education system. "The surroundings should be changed to contribute to sex education among children," she said. "For example, the police, school, law, society and parents should strive to work together to prevent sexual assault from happening."

Experts also pointed out at the conference that in comparison to many Western countries, China still lacks a comprehensive system of sex education and a lot of adolescents learn about sex online.

"Parents should be the first to teach their children about sex, while schools should then take over the responsibility of offering them regular sex education," said Yu Huili, a psychological health teacher for migrant children at Beijing Normal University. She added that they have compiled textbooks on sex education for migrant primary school students.

Yu Zhengjun, a middle school teacher in Mianyang City in Sichuan Province, said that teachers in western rural areas should be trained in teaching sex education. He said that many rural left-behind children whose parents have left them at home to work in the cities are vulnerable to sexual assault. Lower education levels and outdated ways of thinking in the rural areas make the situation worse. As such, it is crucial for rural primary and middle schools to cultivate well-qualified sex education teachers.