Chinese couples at school. Photo: VCG

A university in East China's Zhejiang Province is offering women a course on love and marriage that features how to maintain "soft and gentle emotions."

The Ningbo Institute of Education, with the support of the local women's federation, launched the course on Tuesday to teach women how to have a relationship and begin a marriage.

"Students, do you know how to love? Today, we are not going to search our mobile phones, I'm going to teach you about the Book of Song," a teacher tells a class of dozens of young women referring to a collection of ancient Chinese poetry, The Paper reported Wednesday.

The course includes modules on "harmony," and being "soft" and "gentle." 

Teachers at the university and off-campus experts in psychology offer students classes on the nature of the close relationships, mistaken ideas about marriage, and building a correct view of love, project director Xu Yanping said.

The half-a-year course consisting of 18 classes is to be offered at other universities, and students who finish the course will earn certificate, Xu said.

The Paper