Stop underage marriage

Early marriages among some rural communities, which can be blamed on the lack of job and career development opportunities for rural youths, reflect the imbalanced development in China, says an article in Xinhua Daily Telegraph. Excerpts:

Marriage of teenagers is not rare in Jinping county of Southwest China's Yunnan province. Some girls have even given birth to children before reaching the legal age of marriage. The practice of early marriage in some remote villages can be attributed to obsolete family and fertility concepts in the countryside. But it can also be blamed on the dilemma facing rural youths.

In essence, lack of opportunities is a primary cause of early marriage. Because of the imbalanced distribution of education resources between urban and rural areas, many farmers' children have little chance of changing their future by acquiring higher education and thus feel that they have no choice but to become migrant workers.