Chinese Mandarin - Poverty drove 14-year-old girl to marriage

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Poverty drove 14-year-old girl to marriage

www.chinanews.cn 2005-07-08 13:49:15

Chinanews, July 8 - According to Chongqing Evening News, the summer
vacation has just begun and an astounding piece of news is heard from
Chongqing's Renyi Town: because of poverty, a 14-year-old girl Xixi who
is still studying in a primary school married a 28-year-old man with the
help of a matchmaker.
Xiang Kaijiu, the elder youth, lives in the No. 2 Community of
Yinjianggou Village in Rongchang County's Guchang Town. On the evening of
July 6th, Xiang went to bring home his wife Xixi who was paying a two-day
visit in her parents' place shortly after the wedding. And when the
reporter saw her, Xixi was doing her homework on a wooden stool.
Xiang has a two-storey house covered with tiles outside. The inside,
however, betrays that Xiang is not well-off at all. Xiang has a mother
with metal disease and a deaf father. The floor of the disorderly main
room is covered with chicken droppings. The only electrical appliance in
the house is an electric fan bought over ten years ago.
Since this summer vacation Xixi "married" to Xiang and lives in this
house. But there is no atmosphere of "marriage" in the bridal chamber
upstairs.
"Xixi is much younger than I, but we are both destined to suffer. I know
we can not get our marriage certificate but I as a man should have my
wife," Xiang said. Xiang's eldest brother is still single now and his
second eldest brother goes to live with his wife's family. To "marry"
Xixi is the "straw" he must grasp to conclude his single life.
Owing to poverty, the No. 2 Community of Yinjianggou Village is home to
seven or eight strong bachelors thirty to forty years old. They envy
Xiang very much that he "married" Xixi.
Why Xixi "married" a 28-year-old man before she graduates from the
primary school? Xixi answered that she had been "insulted" when she was
six or seven years old. "'Marriage' brings me sense of safety and nobody
will insult me any more."

E-mail: zhangqinghua@chinanews.com.cn Tel: 8610-88387443 Fax:
8610-68327649

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