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A still from a viral video clip showing a 17-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl taking part in a formal wedding ceremony in Shantou, Guangdong province, China. Photo: YouTube

‘Married’ at 13: Chinese child bride sent back to school after marrying 17-year-old boy, but families give union their blessing

  • The teenagers were married in a ceremony based on local customs in Guangdong after they met online and developed a romantic relationship
  • Local government intervened after a video clip of their wedding went viral last week and the girl was told to return to school

As honeymoons go, they do not get much briefer than this, but when the bride is a 13-year-old girl from southern China who has been ordered to go back to school, you can understand why it was suddenly cut short.

The 13-year-old got married to a 17-year-old boy in a formal ceremony based on local customs last week after they had a romantic relationship for more than a year, the Guiyu township government in Shantou, Guangdong province, said in a statement over the weekend.

By Chinese law, a man has to be at least 22 years old to get married and a woman at least 20. The pair now plan to get an official marriage registration when they are old enough, as many child couples do in rural China.

Neither of the teenagers’ families had any issue with the union and were happy to see them tie the knot. “Both families agreed [with their romantic relationship]. And they love each other,” the boy’s mother said.

A traditional wedding ceremony and wedding feast takes place in Yunnan, Lijiang, China. Photo: Shutterstock

“We didn’t know that we were breaking the law,” said his grandmother, who organised the ceremony with the grandfather. “We didn’t know either,” said the mother. “We have now let [the girl’s family] take the girl home, to go back to school.”

Their teenage relationship started when they met online and romance soon blossomed between them, the boy’s parents told news-clip platform Pear Video. Both had dropped out of school before their wedding.

Not everyone was pleased for the young newlyweds however, and the local government intervened after a video clip of their wedding went viral last week.

The short video showed the adolescents enjoying a sumptuous dinner at a red table. A couple of red candles were lit among dishes on golden candlesticks bearing the traditional Chinese character for “happiness.”

This did not go down well with local authorities. In a statement, the township government said they “ordered the girl to return to her family of origin … and persuaded her to go back to school.”

Why Hong Kong couples opt for a Chinese wedding chaperone

The tradition of teenage weddings is nothing new in China. Before the end of China’s last imperial dynasty in the early 20th century, it was normal for people to marry before the age of 18, and child marriages are still common in rural areas today as many parents follow the traditional belief that it’s a blessing to become grandparents as early as possible.

Many families hold weddings for underage couples, often including traditional rituals and a banquet to treat relatives and friends, to declare they are husband and wife, and get them officially registered with the authorities later, when they’re old enough for legal marriage.

China introduced a free compulsory education system in the 1980s to make sure school-age children received at least nine years of education. Children are normally 15 years old upon finishing ninth grade.

Chinese laws also state that having sex with a female aged below 14 can be defined as rape whether with or without her consent.

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