Why do romantic relationships matter?: An account of Chinese young people in high schools

By Chong Liu & Yan Zhu

“It is not the right time to be in a romantic relationship. I also have never imagined when I will be in a romantic relationship, maybe after my high school graduation? My number one goal now is to go to a good university. To me, it is the most significant thing. All other things, compared to going to a good university, are not important at all.”

- (16 years old, male, academic high school student, middle class)

In recent decades, the UN Sustainable Development Goals have been influential in emphasizing the crucial interdependence of equity and sustainability. However, through worldwide research, researchers have noticed that there is still an existing risk of reproducing discrimination and exclusion against certain groups. Some key topics also lack sufficient discussion due to a series of limitations caused by local contexts. Sex and heterosexual romantic relationships are two culturally sensitive topics in Chinese society, especially among young people. Pre-adulthood heterosexual romantic relationships are often constructed as 'inappropriate' and 'unacceptable' due to being shaped by traditional sexual morality and constructions of 'how a good child/student should behave' in China. Consequently, understandings of sex and heterosexual romantic relationship experiences before adulthood are biased and limited. In particular, such relationships are often viewed by people as a trigger for premarital unprotected sex and unplanned pregnancy.

As two of the first researchers to explore the inequalities between vocational high school and academic high school, especially from an institutional and policy perspective (as 50 percent of middle school graduates must be 'stratified' into the vocational pathway, as discussed by Woronov in 2016), we conducted an in-depth examination of how this educational stratification profoundly influenced young people's perceptions and experiences of heterosexual romantic relationships during their high school years. Our research was based on empirical data collected from 28 student participants, all of whom self-identified as cisgender heterosexual, and 7 schoolteacher participants from both a vocational high school and an academic high school in Tianjin, China. Through this project, we also delved into how mainstream sociocultural norms and expectations (e.g., education and career) associated with their social class status, school category, and societal patriarchy shaped these young Chinese people's perceptions and experiences of sexual activities and romantic relationships in pre-adulthood. However, our study was not limited to the influence of societal and institutional discourses on young people. We also examined the agency of young people and their resistance to prevailing discourses, such as the common belief that romantic relationships inevitably result in premarital unprotected sex and unplanned pregnancy. For instance, they held the view that their romantic relationships could foster not just sexual activities but also intellectual communication.

Moreover, through this project, ethics in research with Chinese children and young people about sensitive topics have also attracted our attention. In the process of discussing sex and heterosexual romantic relationships with these young people, ethical challenges were prominent. It was a heavily emotional experience that Chong Liu was ashamed by some of her young participants and even schoolteachers when she introduced the research topic to them. A couple of student participants laughed in her face, saying, "Aren't your research all about pornography, all about those nasty issues? Wouldn't you feel ashamed?" When we brought up such case studies in focus group discussions in a UCL-funded Global Engagement Project titled 'Tackling Ethical Challenges in Research with Children, in 2023 led by Dr. Yan Zhu, we noticed that such challenging experiences of ethics are also shared by other researchers in this field.

We are currently working on bringing this research forward to have practical implications on improving children and young people's awareness and everyday practice of sex and heterosexual romantic experiences through introducing evidence-based sexuality education curriculums. For example, Chong Liu is collaborating with various organizations, including the Xi'an Guangyuan Sex Education Support Charity Centre and Period Pride, to advocate and optimize the current practice of sexuality education in China. We are also aiming to use this project as a case study to contribute to an ongoing discussion led by UCL and several Chinese universities, such as Beijing Normal University and East China Normal University, about building culturally sensitive ethical frameworks in research with children and young people in China about sensitive topics.

As researchers, we are encouraged and motivated by our young participants to conduct further evidence-based research to explore their understanding and related practices regarding sex and relationships. We hope this blog will inform more readers about our work and look forward to broader cooperation on this topic!

[1] For the original article please check: Liu, C., & Zhu, Y. (2023). Chinese young people’s diverse experiences with heterosexual romantic relationships in various high school contexts. Global Studies of Childhood, 13(2), 102-115. https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106231178010

Note this study only examines heterosexual relationships.

Article Details
Chinese young people’s diverse experiences with heterosexual romantic relationships in various high school contexts
Chong Liu & Yan Zhu
Published: May 28, 2023
DOI: 10.1177/20436106231178010
Global Studies of Childhood

About the Authors

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Chong Liu is currently carrying out her PhD research exploring young people's experiences with sexuality education and social stratification, specifically related to social class and gender, in China. She has experience teaching, developing, consulting, and mediating various sexuality education projects in China. She is also a trainee trustee at TLC: Talk, Listen, Change. As a public sociologist, she is actively participating in public discussions about young people's well-being related to sexuality education and social inequality.

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Dr Yan Zhu is a Lecturer in Childhood Studies at UCL. Her sociological research explores various aspects of children’s lives, including their everyday experiences, personal relationships, and school experiences, with a specific focus on gender, sexuality, and power relations. She is also interested in children’s rights, particularly in the areas of protection and participation, as well as the methods and ethics of conducting research with children and young people. She serves as the Early Career Researcher Network Regional Representative for Southeast at the British Educational Research Association and as the Childhood Study Group Co-Convenor at the British Sociological Association.