A doll in iile. Photo: Weibo

China's first hotel-like sex doll experience shop iile has once again become a popular topic following its opening two years ago to cater to the sexual needs of male workers at the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province. 

However, this time the news is about its closing as the shop was shut down by local police, who have not provided the specific reason for the closure. 

"Dolls are good, but it is better to be just half full" wrote a reminder on a wall of the shop, advising customers to be moderate in their use of the silicone-made human-size dolls. 

"The one really nice point to the experience with dolls is that there are no limits to your imagination, and that you have to wear a condom makes me a bit relieved about the hygiene issue," a 29-year-old-man in Shenzhen told the Global Times on Saturday about his experience visiting the shop. 

Charging 188 yuan ($29) an hour, the business was doing fairly well for itself by providing services to more than thousands of customers over the past two years. In fact, the owners had opened a second shop in the city, which has also been shut down. 

On March 11, ille's flagship shop was closed by police in the Longgang district, who taped up the shop's entrance with two large strips of tape that said "closed."

"It was unpredicted and totally sudden. Customers ran away before they could even finish their business," Li Bo, the owner of ille, told media, explaining that he had not received any official notice nor been told the reason why or how long the closure would be. 

Following a public request for a "reason" after iile's second shop was also closed by police that afternoon, a spokesperson from the Bantian police station replied saying it was "not clear." On Wednesday, the tape on the shops' doors was replaced with the same tape but with the addition of an official stamp from the police station. The police station's spokesperson issued another statement saying it was "not convenient to explain." 

The closures quickly became a hot topic of discussion on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo. While some supported the decision, expressing concerns regarding hygiene, others said they found it odd how quickly the closures came and that there was no particular reason given by officials. 

"It is odd, as described it was closed all of the sudden… this happens a lot when police conduct anti-porn efforts, but if it is really was that, then customers wouldn't get the chance to run away," Zhang, a law expert in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

"It is a gray zone in the industry. I think this case really shows there are some blank spaces on the law to deal with a newly emerged business as such," Ruan, a law expert in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

Being a business person who failed many times before opening the doll shop, the shop's owner Li Bo once told media his ambition was to become an expert for this particular type of business, and turn it into an industry in China that could lead the world.