A thirteen years old teen married a sixteen year old husband

 

 A Thirteen years old teen by the name Jie married her 16-year-old husband three days after they met during the Lunar New Year in 2014. Not long after, she was pregnant.

It sounds like a scene from China's feudal past, when early marriage was customary, especially for girls, but teenage brides and grooms are not uncommon in some poor and rural parts of the country's hinterland. 

 

Jie was the youngest of a number of young Chinese newlyweds

Jie didn't want to fall pregnant so soon after getting married but didn't know about birth control.

Photographer Muyi Xiao met Jie and her husband Wen in the southwestern province of Yunnan in 2014 said the marriages didn’t appear of be the result of parental pressure nor a kneejerk response to an unexpected pregnancy. . The kids said they fell in love and are happy.

 

In China, the legal age for marriage is 22 for men and 20 for women but there's no specific penalty for breaching the law, according to Jiang Quanbao, a professor from Xi'an Jiaotong University.

He says in rural areas many recognize a marriage as long as a couple holds a ceremony and banquet; official registration would take place once the couple were of age. 

In February, pictures of a wedding held for two 16 year old went viral on social networks and received widespread coverage in state media as debate raged over whether they could really be in love.

The couple told a local newspaper that they had the full support of their families, who paid for the banquet.

The couple told a local newspaper that they had the full support of their families, who paid for the banquet.