It was the third time Alex Yang had been forced to find somewhere else to sleep because his roommate wanted to spend the night with his girl friend in their dormitory room.

Having to squeeze himself into bed with another student in the next-door room, Yang was a little vexed. "But still, it is understandable and maybe someday I will need his 'co-operation'," he joked.

Sex without the bond of marriage, once regarded as immoral, is becoming more and more accepted by university students in spite of still-existing rules threatening the expulsion of students who dare to have sex.

A survey covering 541 local university students found that 13.4 per cent of male students and 4 per cent of female students thought there was nothing wrong in having sex. And when it comes to putting this belief into practice, even more are involved.

More open

A similar survey aimed at finding out the sexual attitudes of students and involving several universities in different cities of China was carried out over four years.

It found that on average, 7 per cent of all new students had had sexual experiences. By the time they were in their second year, the figure went up to 13 per cent and to 20 per cent for third year. Before they graduated, a quarter of the students had engaged in sexual activities.

Among the sexually experienced students, 22 per cent of the boys and 18 per cent of the girls said they had had six or more sexual partners over the years.

"Some students would do it in classroom after school when all the other students had left," said Yang, a senior student at a university in Pudong.

"Some would choose the grass in the campus woods. I have seen condoms there on my campus. The safest way is to rent a house outside and that has already become quite common now."

When the students who are most restricted in terms of sexual practice have become so open, those who have left the campus are even more avant-garde about it.

Xu Anqi, an expert on women's issues with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, has recently conducted a random survey among 500 single young people across 11 districts in Shanghai. She found that only 34.7 per cent still believe it is wrong to have sex before marriage.

Even the men surveyed have dropped the once deeply rooted belief about that a bride must still be a virgin. Only 21 per cent of the young men in Shanghai still held to that view. Some 29 per cent took a middle course while 50 per cent have given up the idea altogether.

Among those surveyed, those who said they had experienced kissing or hugging the opposite sex was 42 per cent with 30 per cent moving on to sex and 7 per cent living together.

"The real figures must be higher than that as some people might be too shy to reveal the real situation," Xu said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2003)