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.
　　Xu Ge (Zhanjiang Evening News): Nowadays, many youngsters around 18 may fall in love with someone, but they are far from being mature in intelligence and personality and they are emotionally unstable and incapable of managing a family. Worse still, they do not possess even a penny. They can’t get employed without college diplomas. Without jobs, how can they manage to raise children?
　　Huang might say, in this case, they don’t need to go to college and should get a job immediately after graduating from high school. Ok, but when a young couple whose combined wages are very low, how can they raise a child? They even won’t be able to support themselves.
　　Huang said if young people are allowed to get married at 18 they will not choose cohabitation and this will help to protect the health of women and children. However, she seems to have neglected some bigger problems. For example, the young couples might have to depend on their parents. They might rob banks when they have no money to buy an apartment and they might ransack a supermarket because they can’t afford their babies’ milk powder.
　　Yeyubajiao (www.xinhuanet.com): Most 18-year-olds are not mature in personality or character, so they are generally unable to undertake family responsibilities. When the man and woman get married they are still incapable of taking care of a family. They may well think their choice to get married was wrong. In this case, the divorce rate will greatly increase and social problems will rise too.
　　A more serious result of the lower marriage threshold is that China’s traditional moral bottom line will be overthrown, because when more and more people get divorced, resulting from inconsiderate marriage, the whole society will no longer cherish marriage as much as before. Premarital cohabitation actually has already led to de facto marriage, and irresponsible marriage will lead to more family tragedies.
　　Is the current marriage age threshold really too high? What exactly are the reasons for such a large number of single women and men? In most cases, it’s not that young people don’t want to get married, but they can’t afford marriage or are even afraid of getting married.
　　For some young women, their targets are men who possess houses and cars, and have a good job as well as good family background. However, the reality is, such excellent males are not easy to meet. Most females will not settle for men who do not have the mentioned possessions, and they wait and wait and in the end miss the best time to get married.
　　The reform of the Marriage Law must be based on careful consideration and discussion. In this case, the age threshold is not the fundamental reason for the social problems mentioned by Huang. The priority is not to lower the threshold, but to improve the Chinese people’s livelihood, because when people are living a rich and satisfactory life, they will naturally choose a way of life that conforms to human development.
　　Han Jing (www.hkwb.net): China’s Marriage Law stipulates that males are allowed to get married at 22 and above while the age for females is 20. This is an article that has been implemented for decades. However, Huang argues this highest legal marriage age in Chinese history has resulted in rising social problems.
　　Recently, the news that two college students dropped out of school to get married is spreading fast among the public. The two students were both born in the 1990s. At 18 years old people are still at the stage of growing up. It is a time for them to study hard and learn more experience. They don’t have stable incomes and thus if they get married at this age, they will still depend on their parents after wedding.
　　Huang said that the high marriage age threshold has resulted in illegal cohabitation, which is de facto marriage, and not protected by law. This composes hidden danger in society. However, many couples who got married when they are older have to end up in divorce for many reasons.
　　As for the large number of single men and women, pregnant women over 35 and premarital cohabitation, it is more of results of people’s values and their own choices, which has little to do with legal marriage age. Although many countries in the world have low legal marriage age threshold, they are also plagued by rocketing divorce rates. Thus, it’s too ideal to assume that a lowered legal marriage age will reduce social problems.