The survey, conducted by the Youth League Committee of Beijing Municipality, collected the opinions of 2,022 young people aged 16 to 35 from different walks of life.

Despite the rising divorce rate nowadays, more than 60 per cent of people agreed that it would be better to be married than to remain single and said they would get married sometime in their lives. Only 8.2 percent disagreed, and the remainder said it was hard to choose.

Young people are more open to premarital sex. Over one third of those questioned held that it was acceptable as long as both partners were really in love, while 27.4 percent were strongly against it. The rest remained neutral.

The survey also showed that men were more inclined towards having sex before marriage. Almost half of the men surveyed said that it was OK, compared to 28 percent of women.

The survey indicated that the expense of looking after children and the growing current trend of the “DINK” family, which stands for “double income, no kids,” have not lessened young people’s desire for children. A total of 1,142 of the young people surveyed wanted or had children, in contrast to 287 opposed.

The majority of those surveyed agreed that both partners in a marriage should respect individual privacy, and believed premarital property notarization benefits both sides.

As much as 95 percent of youngsters said they felt responsible for supporting and assisting their parents whether they got married or not, according to the survey.

As for jobs, most of the young people said they took jobs mainly based on their own judgment rather than the suggestions of parents or friends.

A high salary, promising perspectives and stability were their top priorities, the survey showed.

(China Daily 02/06/2001)