If all goes according to plan, this fall a girl somewhere in China's Yunnan Province will tell her boyfriend she can't have sex with him. And he'll have an abstinence program from the United States to thank.

The Educational Bureau of Yunnan Province has recently instructed schools and universities to teach students to abstain from premarital sex and to "cherish their chastity". The textbook, called No Apologies is the "love child" of an American conservative Christian organization - Focus on the Family (FOTF).

Some of the things they teach include the dangers of pornography, the benefits that delayed gratification has on marriages, and the theory that sex distracts youngsters from realizing their dreams. The textbook also contains topics on contraception, how to maintain pre-marital chastity, things to consider with regards to abortion and "how to tell whether a person is infected with the HIV virus."

This may be the result of a narrow confluence of interests: Evangelical Christian groups want an entree into China. And Chinese authorities, despite the country's official atheism, want help with controlling population growth and managing the society's rapidly shifting values.

"Nowadays, teenagers have too many different channels for learning about sex," said a former Yunnan provincial government official, who introduced the Christian group to provincial leaders. "Even if you don't talk about it, they will just learn about it quietly by themselves, which is even more dangerous ... Abstinence is good for keeping the families steady and bringing down the divorce rate. And it complies with China's traditional morals."

Abstinence programs have generated considerable controversy in the US and beyond. Critics argue that efforts should be geared instead toward safe-sex education. But proponents say the strategy has the potential to reduce the rates of out-of-wedlock births and sexually transmitted diseases.

China, however, has proved a tough market to crack. Premarital sex has become common in its developed cities. Even in the more rural areas, experts say, sexual mores are changing at a rapid pace. Condom companies are vying to capture a lucrative share of China's population of 1.3 billion. The United Nations, HIV-prevention nonprofits and other groups are pouring millions into safe-sex programs. And abstinence, some say, is the last thing on Chinese teenagers' minds.

美国《华盛顿邮报》以及其他外媒9月2日报道：婚前守贞行动让中国官员和美国福音基督徒成为伙伴

如果一切按照计划进行，今年秋天，在中国云南省某地，某个女孩或许会告诉自己的男朋友，她将不会和他发生性关系。多亏了美国，那位男朋友也将接受“婚前守贞”教育。

云南省教育厅近日指示云南大、中学校开始教导学生弃绝婚前性行为，并且“珍爱他们的贞洁”。相关教材名为《今生无悔》，来自美国保守教会组织美国——爱家协会。

即将施行的教学内容包括色情作品的危害、延迟满足感对婚姻多多益善以及性行为阻碍年轻人实现梦想。教材还提到了避孕、如何婚前守贞、堕胎考虑事宜以及“如何分辨出一个人是否感染了艾滋病”。

较小空间的双赢模式大概是此次行动的原因：福音基督团体想进入中国。而一直信奉无神论的中国政府一方面想控制人口增长，另一方面则希望有效控制社会快速转变的价值观。

“如今，十几岁孩子学习性知识的渠道太多了，”一位前云南省政府官员称。正是她将该基督团体引荐给了政府领导人。“即便你不谈论它，他们还是会悄悄地自学，这样一来更加危险……婚前守贞有助于家庭稳定，降低离婚率。而且这也符合中国传统道德规范。”

中国的“婚前守贞”行动在美国内外引发强烈的争议。反对人士称精力应该转向“安全性行为”教育。但是支持者称这样做能够降低未婚先孕以及性传播疾病的比例。

然而，在中国这些问题并不好解决。在发达城市中婚前性行为已很常见。甚至在更偏远的地区，性观念也在快速改变。避孕套生产厂商正在争相从拥有13亿人口的利润丰厚的市场中分得一杯羹。而联合国、预防艾滋病的非盈利组织和其他团体也在“安全性行为”项目中投入大量资金。而有人说，婚前守贞是中国年轻人想到的最后一件事。