- By Shivangi Sharma
- Sun, 07 Dec 2025 10:45 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
A new academic study has found that many Chinese women remain caught between modern attitudes towards sex and deeply rooted traditional expectations, as shifting social norms collide with long-standing ideas about female purity and family honour.
The research, led by sociologist Liu Jieyu, describes what she calls a “virginity battle”, a deeply personal and often fraught struggle faced by women from the one-child generation born in the 1980s. According to Liu, the decision of whether to have sex while dating frequently became a point of intense conflict, with women trying to defend their boundaries while facing persistent pressure from male partners.
Fieldwork Across Rural And Urban China
The findings are detailed in a book published by Princeton University Press, based on three years of fieldwork funded by the European Research Council. From 2016, Liu and her team conducted extensive interviews and observations in both rural and urban China, covering provinces such as Shandong, Hunan and Fujian, as well as major cities including Tianjin, Guangzhou and Xi’an.
The study challenges the popular belief that China has experienced a full-scale sexual revolution over the past three decades. While premarital relationships and cohabitation have become more visible since the late 1990s, Liu found that traditional values continue to exert a powerful influence, particularly in matters involving women’s sexuality.
Gender Gap In Premarital Relationships
One major turning point came with the rise of the internet and shifts in official language, when authorities moved from labelling cohabitation as “illegal” to “non-married”. However, the research shows a clear gender gap: among younger participants, about 60 per cent of women reported having premarital sex, compared with nearly 80 per cent of men.
Many women interviewed said they felt torn between personal desire and fear of social judgment, family expectations, and concerns about their future marriage prospects. Rather than sweeping change, Liu concludes that Chinese sexual culture reflects deep continuities, with women often carrying the emotional and social burden of balancing tradition and modernity.