When comparing the Chinese and biblical views of sexuality, we find that they are rooted in fundamentally different authority systems and core philosophies. To understand the missional opportunity it creates in East Asia, we first need to understand the differences and how Chinese traditional views are changing today.
Sex as duty, not intimacy
The Chinese view of sexuality has never been primarily about desire or self-expression. Confucian thought holds that moral evaluations of sexuality are rooted not in monotheistic doctrine but in family ethics—emphasising marriage, reproduction and intergenerational responsibilities. Sex belongs within marriage and exists chiefly for one purpose: the continuation of the family line. Beyond that, it was considered undignified.
This means the moral weight in Chinese culture attaches not to sexual acts in themselves, but to whether those acts serve the family. Filial piety, i.e. honouring one’s parents and ancestors, is the supreme virtue, and producing heirs is among its most essential expressions. Same-sex relationships have historically been treated less as a category of moral transgression and more as an incompatibility with family duty: not sinful so much as simply useless to the lineage.1
| Chinese Traditional Perspective | Biblical Perspective | |
|---|---|---|
| Core Value | Filial piety and social harmony Sexuality is a means to continue the family lineage and maintain social order. |
Holy stewardship Sexuality is a gift from God intended to reflect his relationship with humanity. |
| Foundation | Confucianism and Taoism Balancing forces (Yin/Yang) and fulfilling duties to ancestors and parents. |
Scripture Rooted in divine commands (1 Cor 6:12–20; Eph 5:22–33; Gen 1–2). |
| Marriage | Lineage-oriented Historically allowed concubinage for the sake of producing heirs. |
Monogamous covenant Restricted to one man and one woman for life. |
| Same-sex relations | Context-specific tolerance Historically tolerated as long as it did not disrupt family duties. |
Theological prohibition Contrary to God’s created order. |
Changing norms
Research from Peking University and Fudan University confirms that Chinese increasingly hold more liberal sexual attitudes. Sexual debut occurs at a younger age, premarital sex more widely accepted, and extra-marital sex nearly tripled in occurrence between 2000 and 2015. Higher education, urban living and internet access are all associated with more permissive attitudes.2
However, young Chinese still feel the weight of tradition—in parental pressure to marry, social shame around singleness and the expectation that personal happiness must be subordinated to family duty. The younger generation may no longer believe sex is primarily about procreation, but they remain caught between a tradition that reduces them to their reproductive function and a modernity that offers freedom without belonging.
Paradoxically, sexuality itself seems to have diminished in appeal among younger cohorts. A significant number of young Chinese are living in sexless relationships or opting out of marriage entirely. China now has over 100 million single-person households, projected to reach 150–200 million by 2030.3
This is exactly where the missional opportunities are created.
Biblical sexuality
Genesis 1–2 teaches that human beings are made in the image of God, that the body is not a tool but a gift; that sexuality is not a transaction but a language of covenant; that marriage is not a family contract but, as Ephesians 5:31–32 declares, a profound mystery pointing to Christ’s sacrificial love for the Church. Scripture identifies union and bonding, mutual delight, and procreation as the intertwined purposes of sexuality—not a hierarchy of function, but a whole.
“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.”
~ 1 Corinthians 6:18–20
In a culture where sex is either reproductive obligation or consumer experience, the Christian vision of sexual wholeness treats the person as more than a body performing a function.
Missional posture
How then should the Church engage?
- Begin with belonging. In high-context East Asian culture, relationships precede proclamation. Communities that are genuinely warm, free from the performance anxiety of Confucian social expectation, and welcoming across generational lines will be disruptively attractive.
- Address loneliness. The self-sufficiency of young East Asians is not strength. We were not made to be our own emotional support.
- Engage filial piety. The Christian call to honour parents resonates deeply in this culture (Exodus 20:12). The point of faithful engagement is not to dismiss family loyalty, but to show that ultimate allegiance belongs to God.
- Embody sexual wholeness. Biblical sexuality is not primarily a standard to meet but a gift to receive—one that begins with forgiveness and honouring God with our bodies (1 Cor 6:19–20). That witness is more powerful than any argument.
Christianity is growing across East Asia at roughly 1.6% per year4—and the questions of identity, belonging and sexuality are not obstacles to that advance, but its very entry points. It is to offer people caught between duty and changing norms that they are known, not for what they produce or who they become, but because they are loved.
Prof Dennis Lee serves as Director, Strategic Ministry Development (New Fields/Special Projects & East Asia) at Methodist Missions Society. A former Visiting Professor with Copenhagen Business School, Dennis is currently a Fellow with Singapore University of Social Sciences and an alumnus of Regent College (MTS ’88 & MDiv ’89). He worships at Kum Yan Methodist Church.
1 Confucian Family Ideal and Same-Sex Marriage: A Feminist Confucian Perspective, Hypatia, Cambridge Core, 2024.
2 Chinese Private Life Survey, Peking University/Fudan University (2020). Scholars from the Department of Sociology at Peking University, the Center for Social Research at Peking University, and the Institute of Population Research at Fudan University designed and implemented the survey to collect data on sexuality and family in China.
3 “Young Adults in China Are Leaning Into Living Alone”, TIME, March 2026. URL: time.com/7353845/china-are-you-dead-yet-app-si-le-ma-self-love-generation-individualism/
4 Michael Foust, “What’s Fueling the Rapid Growth of Christianity in Asia?”, Crosswalk.com, 23 May 2025.
