A lesson in love: Chinese university offers dating courses

World Today

Photo:Xinhua

China may face a “bachelor crisis,” as official data showed that Chinese men will outnumber women by over 33 million by 2020. Now, some Chinese universities are trying to lift more people out of bachelorhood at an earlier age by opening “love courses.”

Northern China’s Tianjin University has recently opened a selective course on love, which teaches dating etiquette and tips to ensure a successful relationship, and has unsurprisingly become a hit on campus. Issues including privacy in love, domestic violence, and abortion have also been included in the course.

More than 800 students have applied for a seat in the class soon after its debut, said Xinhua News Agency on Monday.

“It’s the first time we’ve opened the course and the popularity has been far out of our expectation,” Wang Rui, one of the course organizers, told Xinhua.

This is, however, not the first of its kind in China. Earlier, Fudan University, one of China’s key universities located in Shanghai, and also central China’s Zhengzhou Normal University, both introduced courses related to dating life, such as Loneliness and Love Philosophy.

While some controversy has been sparked in the public on whether people actually need to be taught how to love, Tianjin University said they aim to promote correct and positive attitudes towards love and a more systematic understanding about people’s relationships.

The new course has also been met with heated discussion on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

“This is quite necessary. It can help women learn to protect their own rights and avoid being hurt…” said a user named @WangyouyawWyl on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

“First, I think it shows a progress in China’s education. But second, isn’t this also a grand blind dating event [chuckle]?” posted another named @XinshengmingyueJoe.

“Well, love is not a science…this is also why it’s beautiful,” argued @aaaaaalohaaaaaa.

Story by CCTV News.