‘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.
“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.
