(LI SHIGONG)

During the 2012 session of the National People's Congress (NPC) in March, a deputy named Huang Xihua submitted a proposal to lower the minimum legal age for marriage to 18. Currently the minimum legal age for marriage is 22 for males and 20 for females. Huang said the current marriage age threshold is the highest in Chinese history and is responsible for social phenomena such as a rising number of single men and women, pregnancy in women over 35 and premarital cohabitation.

Huang said that in some places, if some people want to get married but they have not reached the legal marriage age yet, they will use fake ID cards and report false ages to get marriage certificates. Some young people directly go into cohabitation, and while it is not under the protection of laws, it is a de facto marriage. These problems are undoubtedly a hidden danger in society. If the legal marriage age is lowered to 18, it would help to protect the legitimate rights of these underage couples and will promote social harmony.

Huang also said that in China the average age for marriage is now between 25 and 29, and as a result, the proportion of women giving birth to children around 35 is increasing. Thus, lowering the legal marriage age will help protect the health of women and children.

Supporters

Sanpi (Zhanjiang Evening News): From the legal perspective, any citizen aged 18 and above is an "adult" and should be able to take responsibility for their civil activities. Therefore, it's old enough to get married at 18.

In some rural areas many young people get married before reaching the current legal marriage age of 22 and 20, but they have no marriage certificates. This is harmful to both sides of marriage, particularly the females. Sometimes the court might admit the legitimacy of de facto marriage without marriage certificates, but it's risky.

If the threshold of the legal marriage age is reduced to 18, people will be empowered with more right of choice. In cities, people may choose to marry late because the economic pressure will be heavy if getting married at such a young age. But in rural areas, it's better for young people to get married earlier, for the benefit of their children.

Qingzi (Zhanjiang Daily): The current legal marriage age threshold is the highest in Chinese history. Although such a high age threshold for marriage aims to protect adolescents' physical and psychological health, it at the same time sows the seeds of hidden danger. Although China's colleges are expanding the scale of enrollment, still many more young people do not go to college.

These young people enter society at 18 years old, and they may need to get married at that age. But due to legal restrictions, they are not allowed to get married so young and as a result, they have to live together, labeled as "illegal cohabitation." Therefore, if the legal marriage age is lowered, it's good news for this group of young people.

Lowering the legal marriage age does not mean to force all people to get married at 18, but it makes it possible for the young to make a legal and reasonable choice. To some extent, a lower age threshold for marriage will help to reduce children born out of wedlock, abortion and various hidden troubles.

Opponents

Liu Peng (www.ifeng.com): Huang's proposal is undoubtedly stirring news during this year's NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference sessions. Children begin to go to school at 6, and after 12 years' education, when they graduate from senior high school, they are already 18 years old. If the legal marriage age is 18, then it means students in high school will be allowed to get married. Isn't this ridiculous?

Huang may have her reasons for lowering the marriage age. But in real life, the delayed marital age among young people, and the more serious phenomenon of the increasing number of single men and women and women who get pregnant late, is not so closely related to the current legal age for marriage. The main reason for these problems is the growing pressure on young people. Why do some young people of marriageable age choose not to marry and gradually slip into the team of being single and some females have children very late in life? It's not because of the current legal marriage age. It's because most of these young people can't afford marriage and are even afraid of getting married.

For example, the common belief in Chinese society is that having an apartment is a precondition for marriage, and sometimes a car is demanded too. In cities, flats are often inaccessibly expensive and even in the rural areas, to get land to set up a house will cost a lot too. However, not every young person is able to create so much wealth and make so much money. So without necessary "hardware," they have to delay their marriage again and again.

We do see cohabitation among the young, but this phenomenon is not common among men who are below 22 and women below 20 years old. For most cohabitants, they do so due to economic or social pressures, and are much older than Huang said.

Marriage means responsibility. Once they get married, both males and females have to take on all family and social responsibilities. Although people are physically mature at 18, they might not be so mature in terms of intelligence, and thus unable to fulfill so many family and social commitments. Moreover, at this age, most people are not stable in character, or in their careers. To get married at this moment is not the best choice for most young people. Worse still, the divorce rate among those who were born in the 1980s keeps rising. If a marriage is not so stable in the beginning, it's quite possible that early marriage will further push up this rate, causing more serious social problems.