Craig
12-12-2002, 03:49 AM
http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap200...021212_336.html (http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20021212_336.html)
Chinese Debate Expulsion of Student Pair
Expulsion of Chinese Student Couple Sparks Debate Over Sexual Morals
The Associated Press
SHANGHAI, China Dec. 12— The expulsions of a pregnant student and her boyfriend from a Chinese university have touched off a rare public debate about sexual morality in this fast-changing society.
The pair was expelled in October after a school doctor found the 19-year-old woman was pregnant, according to numerous reports in state media.
The reports did not release the names of the couple or their school in Chongqing, central China's largest city and home to many colleges and universities.
The doctor reported the pregnancy to school officials, who forced the woman, a student of law and economics, to write a confession naming her 21-year-old lover, where and when they met and how many times they had sex.
Some reports said her parents are considering suing the university for damages, saying it violated her privacy.
Hundreds of postings have filled popular Web sites, mostly expressing outrage at the expulsions and the conservative attitudes behind them, although a few sided with the university.
Such Web sites are monitored by censors who enforce government content guidelines and remove comments considered too critical. But they can allow more freewheeling discussions, particularly on subjects deemed less politically sensitive.
"China is not America. We can't allow sexual freedom," said an unnamed user on Sina.com. "Too often, we end up treating America's bad things as valuable, as fashions, as things to emulate."
But most online comments defended the couple.
"Love is the right of every citizen, and schools are too conservative. They're not able to prepare students for modern society," said another user who did not give a name.
Another posting, signed sunny spider, said, "We are all adults after age 18, and this has nothing to do with the school. Schools only care about their own reputation and order students around."
The incident highlights the tension between expanding personal freedoms as China eases controls on the economy and society, and the still-intrusive official regulation of morality.
Dating, holding hands and kissing in public activities once unthinkable are now commonplace in Chinese cities and on college campuses, and there is growing acceptance of premarital sex.
At the same time, Beijing bans sexually explicit novels and excises bedroom scenes from foreign movies, though unauthorized copies of American films that include full-frontal nudity and sex are sold openly.
Unmarried couples have been fined for living together, and the government retains a one-child birth control policy. In part to lower the birth rate, the minimum age for marriage is set relatively high at 20 for women and 22 for men.
The incident has received prominent coverage in China's increasingly feisty popular press. The Shanghai Youth Daily newspaper devoted a full page to the incident Tuesday, citing academics who were unanimous in criticizing the expulsions.
"If this sort of problem happens again in the future, female university students will be afraid of punishment and secretly seek abortions at illegal clinics," Xu Anqi, a women's studies researcher at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, was quoted as saying. "This may do great harm to their health."
Chinese Debate Expulsion of Student Pair
Expulsion of Chinese Student Couple Sparks Debate Over Sexual Morals
The Associated Press
SHANGHAI, China Dec. 12— The expulsions of a pregnant student and her boyfriend from a Chinese university have touched off a rare public debate about sexual morality in this fast-changing society.
The pair was expelled in October after a school doctor found the 19-year-old woman was pregnant, according to numerous reports in state media.
The reports did not release the names of the couple or their school in Chongqing, central China's largest city and home to many colleges and universities.
The doctor reported the pregnancy to school officials, who forced the woman, a student of law and economics, to write a confession naming her 21-year-old lover, where and when they met and how many times they had sex.
Some reports said her parents are considering suing the university for damages, saying it violated her privacy.
Hundreds of postings have filled popular Web sites, mostly expressing outrage at the expulsions and the conservative attitudes behind them, although a few sided with the university.
Such Web sites are monitored by censors who enforce government content guidelines and remove comments considered too critical. But they can allow more freewheeling discussions, particularly on subjects deemed less politically sensitive.
"China is not America. We can't allow sexual freedom," said an unnamed user on Sina.com. "Too often, we end up treating America's bad things as valuable, as fashions, as things to emulate."
But most online comments defended the couple.
"Love is the right of every citizen, and schools are too conservative. They're not able to prepare students for modern society," said another user who did not give a name.
Another posting, signed sunny spider, said, "We are all adults after age 18, and this has nothing to do with the school. Schools only care about their own reputation and order students around."
The incident highlights the tension between expanding personal freedoms as China eases controls on the economy and society, and the still-intrusive official regulation of morality.
Dating, holding hands and kissing in public activities once unthinkable are now commonplace in Chinese cities and on college campuses, and there is growing acceptance of premarital sex.
At the same time, Beijing bans sexually explicit novels and excises bedroom scenes from foreign movies, though unauthorized copies of American films that include full-frontal nudity and sex are sold openly.
Unmarried couples have been fined for living together, and the government retains a one-child birth control policy. In part to lower the birth rate, the minimum age for marriage is set relatively high at 20 for women and 22 for men.
The incident has received prominent coverage in China's increasingly feisty popular press. The Shanghai Youth Daily newspaper devoted a full page to the incident Tuesday, citing academics who were unanimous in criticizing the expulsions.
"If this sort of problem happens again in the future, female university students will be afraid of punishment and secretly seek abortions at illegal clinics," Xu Anqi, a women's studies researcher at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, was quoted as saying. "This may do great harm to their health."