‘We’re more mature than we look’: China’s ‘child marriage’ couple share their views on love
The teenage couple whose wedding photos captivated the internet this week know their future won’t be easy but are confident they’ll get by together
- PUBLISHED : Thursday, 25 February, 2016, 2:03pm
- UPDATED : Thursday, 25 February, 2016, 9:40pm
- Gloria Chan
The 16-year-old baby-faced Chinese couple whose wedding banquet photos went viral on China’s social media this week, have come to share their views on love and marriage.
To the boy, Zhang Jiale, love is “to take up responsibility, to support one’s wife and parents”, he told
Beijing Times on Thursday.
He admitted, thought, that “I don’t have that ability yet”.
Although the legal age for marriage in China is 22 for men and 20 for women, a teenage couple from Mashan county in Guangxi province went through the traditional wedding ceremony with their parents’ approval on February 15.
The girl, Wu Mingmin, said love was “being good to each other”.
“No matter whether you are right or wrong, I will stand by you. I will give all that is good to you,” she said.
Wu said early marriages were common in areas like theirs in the nation’s underdeveloped southwest. “Early marriages, late marriages – there’s no difference. As long as we love each other,” she said.
“Love and marriage are the same, because it is only with love that there can be marriage. Perhaps there will be a lot of responsibilities, but it’s OK if two people shoulder them together.”
According to the report, the couple were introduced to each other through friends in January last year and it was “love at first sight”.
They started dating in March, and in June, Zhang took Wu to meet his parents, who blessed their relationship.
As Wu’s parents live and work in Guangzhou, Wu started staying over at Zhang’s home frequently.
“We are not each other’s first loves. Both of us started dating at Year One in secondary school. It’s very common – 30 out of 50 in our class are in relationships,” Zhang said.
The couple live with Zhang’s parents and his three siblings in their single-storey home.
“I think he is a person you can depend on for your whole life,” Wu said, adding that Zhang tries to make her happy whenever she gets angry.
When they go out, Zhang does not talk chat to other girls present, she said.
“We didn’t hesitate [to get married]. My mother was afraid I would be like my sisters and get pregnant before getting married, so she agreed to our marriage,” Wu said.
For the past two years, Zhang has been working at construction sites in Nanning and takes home 3,500 yuan (HK$4,160) a month.
He plans to bring Wu, who dropped out of school last year, into the industry with him.
“We know it will be tough, but if we endure it together, there’s nothing we can’t overcome,” Wu said. “Although we look like children, our thoughts are that of adults. We are more mature than our actual age.”
‘We’re more mature than we look’: China’s ‘child marriage’ couple share their views on love | South China Morning Post
