Guangdong's new move to establish a middle school only for girls, a first in the province, has met with mixed reactions, with some saying the educational pattern may hinder psychological development in adolescents.

Located in downtown Zhuhai, which neighbors Macao, the privately-run Henglong Girls' Middle School plans to enroll 1,000 students next year, targeting middle school girls from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

Besides courses similar to other junior and senior middle schools, the girls' boarding school will offer some special courses, including home economics, self-defense, second foreign language, as well as bodybuilding, yoga and etiquette classes.

"With its motto 'Be honest, hard working and self-reliant', the school aims to cultivate modern female talents to be independent, intelligent, beautiful and moderate," Wang Jiaye, the headmaster of the girls school, told China Daily on Friday.

"We want to shape the school with its own characteristics, which could be different from government-funded public schools, and give parents more education choices," she said.

Henglong Group, a top real estate enterprise in Zhuhai, has already been running a primary school and a kindergarten since 1995.

The new school has triggered a hot debate over whether single-gender schools are good for adolescents.

"To some extent, single-gender middle schools might hurt adolescents' mental development, as the middle school stage is a key stage for children to learn how to get along with the opposite sex," said Xia Lingxiang, a psychology professor at the Chongqing-based Southwest University.

Some citizens felt that girls in single-gender schools are like nuns in convents, and could develop sexual repressions or even split personalities, the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily reported on Friday.

However, advocates believe the move could prevent puppy love and is better for the growth of girls with female-oriented classes.

"Puppy love is often associated with early sexual activity among adolescents, which worries parents to a great extent. The problem could be avoided for girls studying in an all-girls school," Yuan Cheng, a local resident, was quoted as saying in the Southern Metropolis Daily.

Girls schools have been highly regarded in western countries, and some successful examples can also be found in modern Chinese history, Zhong Yijun, director of the Zhuhai education bureau, was quoted as saying in Guangzhou Daily.

"Hundreds of years of experience in western countries has proved that the pattern of all-girls schools had little negative effect on the growth of students," said headmaster Wang.

"There are just about a dozen-odd all-girls middle schools on the Chinese mainland due to historical reasons," she added.

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