More than half of Chinese people think sex before marriage acceptable。

More than half of Chinese people think sex before marriage is acceptable, but a third say the partners must be in love, the Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday, citing results of a recent poll。

A survey, initiated by the Renmin University of China, collected 5,951 responses from people of different age groups, professions and education in 10 provinces and municipalities including Beijing and Shanghai。

The results showed 32.7 percent said premarital sex should not be condemned as long as the couple loved each other, while almost 29 percent regarded premarital sex as a private matter。

While 12.8 percent said premarital sex was immoral, they also said it was understandable。

"Only 15.26 percent said premarital sex was immoral and should be firmly opposed, and less than 7 percent in the 20 to 29 age group believed premarital sex was immoral," Xinhua said。

Wanyan Hua, a doctoral candidate at Renmin University, said young Chinese were more open towards premarital sex than previous generations。

"But over-indulgence in sex will not only harm young people, but also weaken the concept of marriage and family," she warned。

Chinese attitudes towards sex have relaxed in recent decades, triggering a boom in extramarital relationships

(Reuters)

本周二，新華社在報道中援引近期的一項調查結果稱，中國有一半以上的人認為婚前性行為可以接受，而三分之一的人則認為兩個人必須相愛才行。

此項由中國人民大學[微博]發(fā)起的調查在北京、上海等10個省和直轄市開展，共收集了5951份不同年齡段、不同職業(yè)和不同教育背景的人的回饋。

調查顯示，39.7%的調查對象認為只要雙方相愛，婚前性行為無可厚非，而29%的人則認為婚前性行為是個人的私事。

12.8%的人認為婚前性行為不道德，但可以理解。

新華社報道說：“僅有15.26%的人認為婚前性行為不道德，應該堅決反對;在20歲至29歲的調查對象中，不到7%的人認為這一行為不道德。”

人民大學博士研究生完顏華說，中國的年輕一代對于婚前性行為的態(tài)度比過去幾代人開放得多。

她說：“但過份沉溺于性不僅會對年輕人造成傷害，而且會削弱婚姻和家庭的觀念。”

近幾十年來，中國人對于性的態(tài)度開放了很多，這也造成了婚外戀現象的增長。