Editor's note: The following piece was translated and edited from a forum posting on the Chinese web portal NetEase. It concerns the (not-exclusively) Chinese social phenomenon colloquially known as the "virgin complex," which is the (sometimes exclusive) preference of men for sexually inexperienced women, and recaps some virgin-related headlines from recent Chinese news history.

Old habits die hard, and the preference of many Chinese men for "untainted" women, better known as the "virgin complex", is a very, very old habit that just doesn't seem to want to die. The following is a recap of incidents in Chinese mainstream culture involving the so-called virgin complex that recently re-surfaced in the Chinese blogosphere in the wake of a dubious survey purporting to measure the percentage of female virgins at 50 Chinese universities:

1) 38-year-old single woman creates "chastity" website
In February of this year, a 38-year-old woman named Tu Shiyou created a website promoting "precious chastity" (雅品贞操网), which encourages women to keep their virginity until at least the age of 23. The website also lashes out at extra-marital affairs, prostitution, pre-marital cohabitation, and one-night stands. Tu, who goes by the online moniker "Chastity Goddess", also became famous for exposing "proof of virginity" exams at Chinese hospitals to the micro-blogosphere.

2) Female government employee asks doctor for signed proof of accidental hymen tear
In 2006, in a remote village in Hunan's Yongzhou prefecture, a 30-year-old unmarried government worker took her gynecologist to court after it was discovered during a routine exam that her hymen had been broken. According to the woman, she wanted a signed certificate from the doctor stating that the tear was not a result of previous sexual activity "so that [she] could offer some proof to future boyfriends".

3) 80% of women in rural areas say chastity more important than life
According to a recent survey by the All China Women's Federation, when asked to rank a series of values in order of importance, 80% of women in rural areas listed chastity as more important than being alive.

4) When sex sells, virgins are a hot commodity
When a local business owner answered a phone call at his Yiwu hotel room from a "virgin" escort service, he didn't think it would lead to him being scammed out of 149,000 RMB. The subsequent investigation let to the exposure and arrest of an entire ring of criminals; only then did the "victim" finally discover that his escort was not, in fact, a virgin. Of course this is far from the first scandalous incident involving virgins in recent memory. Former vice-chairman of a Henan township-level CPPCC Wu Tian was once found to have indulged in dozens of visits from underage prostitutes, believing that sex with a virgin would "cleanse" him of bad karma after a night of gambling. Another man once made headlines in Guizhou by storming out of a brothel after discovering the girl servicing him was not a virgin. Virginity was also a major selling point in the huge Zhejiang "schoolgirl" prostitution ring not too long ago.

5) University students promote abstinence before marriage
In a 1989 survey by sociologist Li Yinhe, 85% percent of women surveyed reported abstaining from sex before marriage. It has been noted, however, that the survey only examined responses from women age 30 to 80 years, suggesting that the more conservative value systems of older generations might account for such a high percentage. 20 years later, more surveys indicate that pre-marital sex is more and more common, and that the so-called "virgin rate" is shrinking among the younger generation. According to a recent survey, as many as 60% of young women in urban areas reported having premarital sex, though that number is still relatively low for rural areas and older women.

 6) "Leftover" men and women
According to a recent survey, only 25% of so-called "leftover" men and women (剩男, 剩女)— those who choose a career over spouse—are happy. The remaining 75% are either "lonely", "bored", or "anxious". How then, do these "leftovers" fulfill their sexual needs? According to the survey, 17.6% have a regular sex partner, 9.8% engage in one-night stands, and 7.8% pay for sex, 35.3% are dedicated masturbators (3.9% with the aid of a device), 21.6% choose to suppress their sexual desires altogether and 7.8% chose… "other".

Source: NetEase

Related links
Short Skirts, But No Flirts: Deciphering Chinese Women's Sexuality
Sex Education in China – In the Dark or With the Lights on?
The Chinese Virgin Complex (According to a Blogger)

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Keywords: virgin complex China leftover attitudes to virginity China China virgins virgin survey China