China’s young people are much more free than past generations, especially when it comes to love.
Not only are young adults okay with having sex at an earlier age without getting married first, they’re also okay with performing public displays of affection (PDA), something that was once an acute social taboo in China.
A survey conducted by the China National University Media Alliance polled 1,302 university students from 230 schools and found about 60 percent of respondents were in favor of public displays of affection.
Eighty percent were in favor of sweet talking and hugging in public, and 63 percent had no problem with light kissing. The students were less inclined to perform more overt examples of PDA: only 15 percent were in favor of making physical caresses, while just 9 percent were okay with making out in public.
The survey also found that a smaller sample of 115 parents were much less likely to approve of public displays of affection, the lowest being for light kissing at 20 percent. However, parents proved to be even more accepting of holding hands in public than students (98 percent over 96). Perhaps they view that as better than the alternative.
Social taboos are strong motivators of behavior in Chinese culture, but the changing times means China’s younger generation are more apt to react differently because they see themselves in a different context from their parents.
Recent graduate Zhang Ning said the social taboo over PDA still exists in China, but she isn’t as inclined to care anymore. “I get a little embarrassed about doing it. On the other hand, most people won’t see me do PDA because it takes a short time to do. Also, no one (on the street) recognizes me or knows who I am.”
However, despite the willingness of China’s younger generation to kiss like no one is looking, PDA in China still has its detractors. Diao Yuquan from Zhejiang Sci-tech University said PDA is not part of traditional Chinese behavior, but is a learned trait from Western inlfluences.
Yuan Xin, a psychological professor at Nankai University, said that although public displays of affection show that China has become a more open society, Yuan blames the phenomenon on students’ ignorance.
“Some university students don’t know the boundary between private and public life. As a university teacher, we should strengthen the way we educate students about love,” said Yuan. “By learning how to act in public places, students will be able to fundamentally respect other people and their surroundings.”
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