Lessons in love: Chinese university teaches seduction
BEIJING (AFP) — Chinese university tutor Xie Shu’s core subject is Communist ideology, but he has diversified from the dry annals of political doctrine for a more hands-on subject: seduction.
His “Theory and Practice of Romantic Relations” course at Tianjin University includes lectures on pick-up techniques, self-presentation and how to entice the opposite sex.
“How should you react when you’ve been rejected?” Xie asked his young charges at one lecture, in a cafe on the campus in the northern port city. “Clearly, don’t throw the roses that you bought the girl at her –- keep calm.”
Tianjin is China’s first university to integrate such a course into its curriculum, giving students credit toward their degrees for attending — an indication of slowly loosening social norms in China after decades of more straight-laced traditionalism.
It also demonstrates officials’ increasing concern over the social acumen of the country’s youth -– many of whom grew up as pampered “Little Emperors” without brothers or sisters as a result of China’s one-child policy.
“The generation of only children lack relationships with people their own age,” China’s most prominent sexologist Li Yinhe told AFP, adding: “A boy who has a sister might have a better understanding of how to interact with a girl.”
At the cafe Xie flipped through Powerpoint slides, showing the boys how to “upgrade their look” by avoiding “tank tops and long shorts,” and urging them not to “ask girls questions like it’s a police investigation.”
“Be courteous. Serve the girl before yourself. But don’t go overboard, either,” he advised.
His female charges, he suggested, should run their hands through their hair and “look the boy in the eye even if they feel intimidated.”
Sitting toward the back of the pack, Zijun Qian, 23, who has never had a relationship, diligently typed up the teacher’s advice on her laptop.
“When I learned that a class like this existed, I thought it was incredible,” she said.
Xie occupies a particularly Chinese academic role as a fudaoyuan, who instructs students in Marxism-LeninismMao Zedong Thought as well as social counselling, but his authority on the issue of relationships is open to question.
He is single, he admitted sheepishly. “I don’t have a wife or a girlfriend,” he laughed, “which is a bit embarrassing.”
Many young Chinese entering university have little practical experience in matters of the heart.
Conservative attitudes are widespread and most simply have not had time to date in high school, due to the intensive study necessary to pass the dreaded “gaokao” exam, which determines college placement and is seen as a key to one’s future.
Parents generally frown upon relationships that might distract their children from their all-important studies.
As soon as students graduate from university, however, the opposite becomes true: families often push for them to marry quite quickly — preferably before 27 for girls and before 30 for boys -– prolonged singledom can prompt taunts, concerns, and unrelenting pressure.