"I may seriously consider moving to Jiangsu and getting a job there," jokes Jim Zhang, a testosterone-raging young man who is about to graduate from a Beijing college.

Jim has just received a gentle nudge from a revision of regulations governing the floating population in Jiangsu. Earlier this month, the province in East China, just north of Shanghai, passed a local law regarding the massive floating population. To be more accurate, it phased out an old provision that "forbids the cohabiting of man and woman who cannot produce documents of matrimony".

"It's just a very small part of a legal overhaul. We didn't expect it to be singled out by media and draw public attention," said Xu, an official at the law office of Jiangsu provincial government, who declined to give his full name.

Xu specified that the law concerns mainly leases by landlords. ''If you want to check into a hotel with a partner of the opposite sex, you are governed by regulations of the hospitality industry, which may still require marriage licences.''

The old law was intended to prevent prostitution, and is still in effect in one form or another in most Chinese cities. "We don't have any proposal to repeal it for the time being," said a staff member at the publicity office of Beijing city government.

Legal experts mostly agree that Jiangsu's decision is a step in the right direction. "The law should protect the rights of the majority, not forestall a few misdemeanours or petty offences at the expense of the majority," said Wang Shi, a lawyer.

However, it's not the few cases of "ladies for rent in rented places" that have turned it into a topic of the day. It's the convenience of premarital sex that worries those with moral considerations. "Does that mean people in Jiangsu can legally stash their concubines or spurn the sanctity of conjugality?" asked a retired teacher.

Advocates preach the pragmatism of the move. "Many of our cities' young people simply cannot afford to rent a place of their own. They would have to share to cut down living costs," argued Wang. "Besides, this can avert vice squads from making haphazard raids for the sole purpose of enriching their bonus funds. They'll have to target real hookers rather than unmarried couples who move together."

Sociologists say that people frown upon cohabitation mainly out of the puritanical tradition of keeping unrelated men and women separate. In the old days, a man was not supposed to get a glimpse of his bride until the night of the wedding when her veil was taken off. Although this practice is long gone, its vestige remains.

"Some people just assume there is something going on inside the apartment even though you may just be roommates and not on speaking terms with each other," said Jules Liang, a magazine editor in Guangzhou, who shares a place with people of both sexes. As a break from the tradition, people like Jules have transformed cohabitation into a lifestyle, or even something of a fashion statement.

There are also people who believe that the revision of the law is necessary but should not be flaunted. "With all the reports in tabloids, a sensible decision by a local legislature is hyped into a sensational story that sounds like encouragement for prostitution or wantonness."

"Cohabitation is an ethics issue. It should not be dealt with by laws," contended Fang Kai, a legal researcher.

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