Focus on the Family Heads East

Focus on the Family is teaming up with the ministry of education in China's Yunnan province to bring its abstinence-only curriculum to the region's teenagers.

More than 500 teachers from half the school districts in Yunnan were trained to teach the curriculum in government-backed seminars last week, according to The Washington Post. Focus on the Family officials said they plan to pilot the abstinence programs at two school districts this year. However, provincial officials said the training is primarily for teachers, and the curriculum will not necessarily be taught directly to students.

The partnership is a milestone for the conservative Christian organization, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., which has struggled to make inroads in Chinese society. While the Communist Party has shown skepticism over evangelical organizations, the Chinese government wants to control the population, therefore possibly boosting Focus on the Family's presence in the most populous country in the world. In contrast to its more traditional material, Focus on the Family had to agree that the information taught in China be void of politically sensitive messages or religion.

Still, as premarital sex and HIV/AIDS are on the rise in China, condom companies are also vying to capture the massive market of 1.3 billion people.