Framing Relationships and Sexuality Education in Mainland China: A Corpus Analysis of Health and Mental Health Guidance and a Survey of Parental Attitudes

This study examines parental attitudes and expectations towards school-based Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) in mainland China, where national policy guidance exists but RSE is not part of a statutory curriculum. Although recent developments, including the 2020 revision of the Law on the Protection of Minors, signal growing policy recognition, a unified and detailed framework for RSE remains absent.
A mixed-methods design was adopted. A nationwide online questionnaire collected 214 valid responses from parents, capturing demographic data and experiences of school- and family-based RSE of both parents and their children. In parallel, a Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) analysis was conducted on two Ministry of Education (MoE) policy documents, comparing keyword and frequency patterns against a national corpus to examine how RSE is constructed in official discourse.
Findings show strong parental support for integrating RSE into the national curriculum, with increasing demand for earlier, more comprehensive, and inclusive content, including consent, gender equality, and relationships. In contrast, policy discourse remains predominantly biomedical and behaviour-oriented, emphasising health and moral regulation, while giving limited attention to inclusivity and emotional dimensions. This divergence highlights a gap between parental expectations and existing policy frameworks. By combining survey data with corpus-based analysis, the study provides insights to inform the development of a more inclusive and contextually responsive RSE curriculum in mainland China.