Premarital sex seen skyrocketing in China
Source: Xinhua |
April 13, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE number of people having premarital sex in China has rocketed in the past two decades, recent research has revealed, triggering a new round of debate on the country's marriage regulation and sex education.
Survey results published last week by Insight China, which is affiliated with Qiushi, or "Seeking Truth," the flagship magazine of the Communist Party of China, showed that 71.4 percent had sex before marriage, a whopping 30 percentage point increase from 1994.
The results of a similar survey by Sina Weibo, China's most popular Twitter-like microblog, were also startling. Reinforcing changing Chinese approaches to sex, 86.5 percent of its respondents claimed to have had premarital intercourse.
A total of 19,578 netizens, 79.4 percent of them male, filled in the Sina Weibo questionnaire.
Compared to the new results, the ratio of people admitting to premarital sex two decades ago was low. When Li Yinhe, China's first female sexologist, researched the matter in 1988, only 15 percent of Chinese respondents reported having sex before they got married. However, the rate surpassed 40 percent when the poll was repeated in 1994.
Zhen Hongli, doctor of psychology at Peking University, said the present legal marriageable age in China (20 for females, 22 for males) seemed to be inadequate considering people's natural desire.
Huang Xihua, a deputy to the National People's Congress, suggested at this year's NPC legislative session that the marriage age should be lowered to 18.
An increasing number of young people in China are displaying open-minded sexual attitudes. More than 10 budget chain hotels have emerged around the college park in Shanghai's Songjiang District. A senior student from one college told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that many couples in his school check into these hotels for weekends.
The phenomenon of inadequate formal sexual education was highlighted by another result from Insight China's research - 24.5 percent of respondents said they obtain sexual knowledge from the Internet, including pornography, which is strictly forbidden and suppressed by public security departments and the government.
Li Hui, a teacher with a Shanghai-based high school, said almost every male college student knows how to download pornographic videos online. It's helpful for them to get some sexual knowledge, he said.
Survey results published last week by Insight China, which is affiliated with Qiushi, or "Seeking Truth," the flagship magazine of the Communist Party of China, showed that 71.4 percent had sex before marriage, a whopping 30 percentage point increase from 1994.
The results of a similar survey by Sina Weibo, China's most popular Twitter-like microblog, were also startling. Reinforcing changing Chinese approaches to sex, 86.5 percent of its respondents claimed to have had premarital intercourse.
A total of 19,578 netizens, 79.4 percent of them male, filled in the Sina Weibo questionnaire.
Compared to the new results, the ratio of people admitting to premarital sex two decades ago was low. When Li Yinhe, China's first female sexologist, researched the matter in 1988, only 15 percent of Chinese respondents reported having sex before they got married. However, the rate surpassed 40 percent when the poll was repeated in 1994.
Zhen Hongli, doctor of psychology at Peking University, said the present legal marriageable age in China (20 for females, 22 for males) seemed to be inadequate considering people's natural desire.
Huang Xihua, a deputy to the National People's Congress, suggested at this year's NPC legislative session that the marriage age should be lowered to 18.
An increasing number of young people in China are displaying open-minded sexual attitudes. More than 10 budget chain hotels have emerged around the college park in Shanghai's Songjiang District. A senior student from one college told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that many couples in his school check into these hotels for weekends.
The phenomenon of inadequate formal sexual education was highlighted by another result from Insight China's research - 24.5 percent of respondents said they obtain sexual knowledge from the Internet, including pornography, which is strictly forbidden and suppressed by public security departments and the government.
Li Hui, a teacher with a Shanghai-based high school, said almost every male college student knows how to download pornographic videos online. It's helpful for them to get some sexual knowledge, he said.
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