广西16岁孩子结婚引热议 称真心相爱已获双方家长认可
Photos of two 16-year-olds in a wedding gown and suit at what seems to be a wedding have triggered heated discussion on Chinese social media.
两个身穿结婚礼服和西装的孩子似乎在举办婚礼的照片引起了中国社交媒体的热议。The two teens, who were first reported to be a 13-year-old groom and a 16-year-old bride, have made clarification online that they both reached 16 years old, and their marriage has won the blessing and support of their parents, despite the legal marriageable age in China being 22 for males and 20 for females.
媒体首次报道这两个青少年时表示，新郎今年13岁，而新娘则是16岁。但是随后他们在网上澄清，双方都已经16岁。尽管中国法定结婚年龄是男方22岁，女方20岁，他们的婚姻得到了双方父母的祝福和支持。The couple, from a small town in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, claimed to have known each other for over a year. Both have dropped out of school. Aside from clarifying their ages in the online statement, the two also refuted netizens' speculation that the marriage is due to the bride's pregnancy.
这对夫妇来自中国南部的广西壮族自治区，声称已相识一年有余，两人都已经辍学。除了在网络声明中澄清了自己的年龄以外，他们还反驳了网友关于新娘怀孕结婚的推测。
"The marriage between us is just inevitable after knowing each other for over a year. So we just held the ceremony and will get a marriage certificate after we reach our legal age," said the 16-year-old bride.
16岁的新娘表示：“相识一年以后结婚是必然的。所以我们举办了婚礼，等到了法定年龄，就领取结婚证。”The fact that the groom quit in the second year of junior high school sparked debate. According to Chinese law, a teenager has to receive nine years of compulsory education, namely six years of primary school education and three years in junior high school.
新郎在初中二年级辍学这一事件引发了争议。根据中国法律，青少年必须接受九年义务制教育，即六年小学教育和三年初中教育。"My parents are farmers, and since I am not good at schooling, why waste the time and tuition fees? " said the groom. Since two years ago, after he quit school, he has been working in Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi.
但是新郎却说：“我的父母都是农民，我书念得不好，干嘛还浪费时间和学费？”自两年前退学以后，他就一直在广西省省会城市南宁工作。Some web users questioned the meaning of this wedding, since it is not legal. "Is it possible that their families arranged this wedding, invited friends to the wedding banquet so as to collect gift money? The 'marriage' is not protected by law anyway," Weibo user Ajiaojiao said.
因为婚礼不合法，一些网民质疑其举办的意义。微博用户Ajiaojiao说：“有没有可能是他们的父母安排了这场婚礼，邀请朋友参加婚宴，借机收钱？无论如何，这场婚姻不会被任何法律保护。”
