It's 40 years since China began a process of reform and opening up. Nowhere is China's new-found confidence more noticeable than with its young people. Strong, dynamic and upwardly mobile, they're facing their future with optimism and hope. To mark Youth Day, CGTN sent its anchors out and about to discover more about young people's dreams and ambitions. In today's New Generation report, Jeff Moody has been exploring the country's new attitudes to sexuality.

This young lady is sharing with me her deepest fantasies.

JANE BEIJING RESIDENT "I want to try sex with two people. The kind with two men and one woman. But that's it, I wouldn't like to do it with two women."

And she's not alone. China is the top producer of sex toys in the world. 70% of the world's adult aides are made here, in an industry worth 2 billion US dollars, and with the explosion in popularity of mail order sites like Taobao, a significant number of these sex aides are staying in China.

JEFF MOODY BEIJING "Even finding hook-ups these days is easy to achieve, from the comfort of your own home. I've downloaded China's most popular dating app – for research purposes only, you understand. As you can see, I can scroll through hundreds of pictures of girls, all up for a date - and some, maybe more. All I've got to is swipe right, or left."

Time, then, to meet Li Yinhe. She's a sociologist, sexologist and advocate for sexual freedom in China. She thinks China's new-found sexual awakening was only a matter of time.

LI YINHE SOCIOLOGIST "I did a survey in the 1980s and pre-marital sex was pretty much non-existent. I think the anti-sex or abstinence mind-set is unnatural. After the opening up, people started to realize that, through western media or other ways, even through classical Chinese literature or philosophy – sex is a natural thing. So people started to realise sex is a fun and natural thing. So the transition is simply from an unnatural mind-set to a natural one."

A natural scene that's being played out in bars and clubs in virtually any country in the world. Girl meets boy, boy meets boy, girl meets girl. But here in China, the shift in young people's view of sex – from purely reproductive, to one of pleasure – comes at a price.

Marie Stopes is an international organization that advocates sex education, with the aim of preventing unwanted pregnancies and sexual health problems. They believe, whilst China's youth is embracing the brave new world, their parents are being left behind.

XU WEN MARIE STOPES "A mum once asked me what she should tell her son when he saw an adult product store. Many parents are still worried about their children knowing too much about sex. To them, sex is still something indescribable or taboo. They don't know how to teach their children about sex, and are concerned that improper information on sex might have a bad influence on their children."

LI YINHE SOCIOLOGIST "Chinese youth still lack proper knowledge on sex or contraception, which results in a large amount of unprotected sex and abortions. A large proportion of abortion cases are among unmarried youths. These are all the result of improper sex education. But the good thing is that the country is now promoting sex education, and new text books on sex education are also being issued to kids. China really needs them."

Meet Matthew. He's in his twenties, and is one of China's millions of gay men. Not for him the sexual revolution.

MATTHEW BEIJING RESIDENT "I wanted to commit suicide, but I didn't do that. Before, I didn't know what gay was, and how to accept myself. No one could tell me, even my friends, my parents. China is still traditional. I think education is a problem."

Homosexuality was decriminalized in China in 1997, and in 2001, it was removed from the list of mental illnesses. Shanghai has hosted a gay pride event since 2009, and Taiwan since 2003, but on the whole, Chinese society's emphasis on family values and continuing the blood line leaves little room for so-called alternative lifestyles.

LI YINHE SOCIOLOGIST "Homosexuality is no longer considered a crime but China still lacks laws protecting sexual minorities. The Chinese accept transsexual or transgender more than they do homosexuals. Probably one reason is people still see trans as heterosexual. But for homosexual, many people consider them weird or ridiculous. Another reason is that dragging-up is common in many traditional Chinese artforms. For example, in traditional Peking opera, female characters are always portrayed by men."

It may be a depressing picture for China's LGBT community – but the people at Marie Stopes believe, hope is on the horizon.

WANG LONGXI MARIE STOPES "In China, we have had a very short amount of time to really understand why LGBT people are the same as others. They just have a different sexual orientation or gender identification. They are not weird people. They have the same rights. But we still need a bit of time to get our heads round this."

Whatever the social mores tell us about twenty-first century China, there's no denying that young people in the Middle Kingdom are enjoying freedoms their parents never thought possible, whatever their sexual persuasion. JMJeff Moody, in Beijing, for CGTN.