youngest legal age to have children in china?

[civic94]

I have met a couple of friends from the mainland in the states in a university, they tell me about the one child policy, and that a man has to be at least 22, a woman has to be at least 20 to get married. How about the legal age for giving birth for a woman in china?

I lectured to them about in the states, people can have as many kids as they want, there is no age restricion on teen pregnacy, and getting married, it depends on states, some as low as 14, while some states its 18. They both tell me that having a 1 child policy is bad, as both of them want siblings, but they do agree that there is too many people in china, if the 1 child policy was not enforced, people would be worse off since there will be more people looking for jobs.

[icebear]

I lectured to them about in the states

That must have been fun for them.

[civic94]

yes it was fun.. since I am a american born chinese, they were shocked that I didnt know anything about china, even not speaking mandarin since its the national lanuage. I told them that I can speak fluent cantonese, which is really good since many ABC's cant speak anything but english.

[GaryM]

It seems to me that you are conflating two issues. The one child policy and the legal age of consent. If your interest is primarily in the latter, it makes me wonder whether or not you are a pedophile.

[civic94]

no i'm not a pedophile. like i said, i was lecturing them, and they are really shocked that I look Chinese, but know nothing about the language or its culture, or laws. It really surprises me that china has so many restrictions on just having a family, just as they are surprised at how the government here have no rules on having a family, that poor people here have human rights, that people have tons of half siblings or a woman having 10 kids with 10 different men. etc, etc.

They told me the horrible stories of forced abortions and the preference of a boy... but yea we talked on may subjects..

[jbradfor]

How about the legal age for giving birth for a woman in china?

And how exactly would that get enforced? Force feed her birth control bills from onset of menstruation until she's 22? If she gets pregnant too early, tell her to just hold it a couple of years to give birth?

I lectured to them about in the states

That must have been fun for them.

I think icebear was mocking you here....

[skylee]

I have asked this before but got no answers. In which state(s) can people be legally married at 14?

[civic94]

this is a society forum right? my friends asked me because they saw some students aged 18-22 at the University here that already have kids that are 5 or 6, and since they dont want to ask the american students, they ask me because I'm chinese and american. so I tell them, and they tell me stuff.

skylee, I have to check, but I do remember watching a show on tv where a 14 year old boy married a 41 year old woman, they did so once he turned 14. I will post it later when I find out.

[jbradfor]

skylee, I gave you a partial answer over here.

In my reading of the wikipedia article (and of course I am not a lawyer), in pretty much EVERY state in the USA (with a couple of exceptions....) people can be legally married at age 14 -- or at any age. That is, very few state have a legislated minimum age. However, typically below 18 years, parental consent is needed, and typically below 16, a court order is needed. I would assume that it is extremely rare for such a court order to be granted, but it would be legal if the court order is obtained.

[civic94]

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=TdVohFdDvao

http://en.wikipedia....arriageable_age

This is for new hampshire-

"Applicants who has reached the age of 18 can marry without parental consent. A female between the age of 13 and 17 years and a male between the age of 14 and 17 years can be married only with the permission of their parent (guardian) and a waiver (See Waiver)."

so wow.. I guess its 13 for girls and 14 for boys in new hampshire.. learned something new myself

and oh yeah, My saudi arabian friends tell me its legal for a man to have 4 wives there, and some of them have 3 step mothers and tons of half siblings.

Guys, I just want to learn something new here. if you want to flame me, go ahead, i like to learn about cultures, countries, their laws, rights, or whatnot.

[gato]

The "Live Free or Die" state.

[civic94]

hey jbradfor, I dont mind you having your opinions, but the other reason I ask is because the Chinese girls at my U are like super scared of being old or fat. Some of them ate 1 meal a day sometimes because they are worried about being fat, and I tell them they look skinny, by Americas standards.

they just tell me that once a woman is 25 or older, men wouldn't want them or find them attractive. but on the other hand, they all tell me that their parents dont want them to date in school, and they must get a masters to have a better opportunity in china, so therefore if they complete their masters at 24, at the earliest, and at 25 they are too old, they really only have 1 year to find the right one. I didnt ask whats the age to have sex, I ask whats the min age where a women can give birth, without the government aborting it, or giving a huge fine, of course.

[大肚男]

I don't think we should be mocking the guy. But I do get the impression that your Chinese friends may be pulling your leg a little bit.

I find it hard to believe that a group of overseas students would be surprised at seeing a Chinese person, especially an ABC, who doesn't speak Mandarin, because of Hong Kong.

If there are actually any law as to minimum age to bear children, enforcement would be in a similar fashion to one child policy enforcement. Government could levy fines or perform forced abortions.

Also, I think "lecturing" may have been a bad choice of words. However, I do enjoy it when people tell about how their cultures are different than mine. However, I always take that information with a grain of salt, and I try to fact check it as much as I can.

Finally, I don't think there is any indication that the guy is a pedophile, especially given the fact he's hanging out with Chinese university students.

[yialanliu]

Just want to clarify about the 1 child policy.

The current birth rate per female for China while it is near an all time low, it is still above 1.5. While it is true that there are limitations in place for having more than 1 child. The limitations are typically fines, rarely anything extreme such as forced abortions (while they do exist). If the birthrate was truly controlled by the 1 child policy, you should expect a birth rate closer to 0.9 due to the fact that some may elect to not get married and other reasons (unable to have kids).

The fact is, there are plenty of exceptions and the statistics show that.

http://www.nytimes.c...?pagewanted=all

NYTimes puts it at 1.5 - 1.8. This means that over 50% of parents have 2 kids (Assuming closer to 1.. While a few might have 3.

In addition to this, new rules are relaxing the laws such as the ability to have 2 automatically if both parents are only child and due to the fact that people in rural areas gets 2 automatically, the number of people who are held to the 1 child policy is less than majority. So even without paying for fines, the majority of couples now can have 2 kids.

^^ I agree with the above, I think you didn't really lecture them but they got a kick in persuading an ABC in some biased information.

they just tell me that once a woman is 25 or older, men wouldn't want them or find them attractive. but on the other hand, they all tell me that their parents dont want them to date in school, and they must get a masters to have a better opportunity in china, so therefore if they complete their masters at 24, at the earliest, and at 25 they are too old, they really only have 1 year to find the right one.

Unfortunately, this is very true. However, just would like to mention the great majority of parents frown upon open dating. However, if you keep it away from teachers and parents, not a big deal (they will turn a blind eye if its not too obvious). You make it obvious and they'll put a stop to it, but if you hide it, not a big deal.

[civic94]

hey 大肚男,

believe it, my friends from the mainland was really suprised that I did not speak the national language of china. some of them understood where I was coming from, and others looked at me as a banana (yellow on outside, white on inside). My university is small, and I am the only ABC there, and there was about 20 or so chinese students, our school is in a small town, poplation 10,000.

I was born in the states, been to china when I was 10 but I dont remember anything, and I cant read, or write chinese. Im pretty sure if you meet a few more chinese americans in america, and asked them if they spoke chinese, most of them wont,while some of them can speak a bit.

to be honest, I look 100% chinese. but, in america i am too chinese to be american, and in china I am too american to be chinese.

for example, a russian, austrailan, or european couple that immigrate to america, their kids can be 100% american, what if that russian kid with a russian last name, meets russian exchange students in america, and they see that the person looks russian, has a russian last name, but dont know the national language?

[yialanliu]

I know how it feels.

There was a point in life where I ONLY dated white girls because I thought the Chinese girls were too weird...things umm have changed haha.

I come from small town America as well and before going to college in Boston, all my Chinese friends were ABC or came when we were like 3-5. So yea, it's normal to not know Chinese. I only really started to study how to read and write chinese freshman year in college and then decided to come every year to brush up on Chinese and see if I could stay here.

[jbradfor]

believe it, my friends from the mainland was really suprised that I did not speak the national language of china

I can believe that. I don't think you're alone in experiencing "wacko" (my word) Chinese expectations about overseas Chinese.

Also, I think "lecturing" may have been a bad choice of words.

I think that is what icebear meant as well.

[animal world]

Are you by any chance a Mormon missionary, civic94?

Here are some statistics for you. They may be of use in your lectures in China about the USA: http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/medicalresources_teenpregnancy.html

It's not a rosy picture. It's even worse when you consider that the US is now ranked 34 for infant mortality.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/oct2008/mort-o18.shtml

@ icebear

[civic94]

yialanliu,

I get what you mean also. when I am with american friends, they expect me to know how to read chinese, or know everything about china. or use me as a scapegoat for asian jokes, which I dont mind since some of them are true, and they are just playing around.

to my chinese friends from the mainland, they see me as a banana for not knowing anything since my blood is chinese. To the other ABC's, I can relate because we are all in the same boat, we do have an identity crisis, thats why I want to travel to china and explore my roots and at least know about their laws, how the poor, or rich people live, how corruption is, etc.

to animal world, no im not a Mormon missionary, I just find it amazing how in china, a government can control family planning. I knew about the 1 child policy, but i didnt know about the other social issues that it has caused. I'm 27, and I just want to travel back and see why my parents left, obiously it is for a better life, but I want to explore. and yes, to the mainland friends at school, they didnt think outside the box that if I have a kid, and my kid has a kid, they will be the 3rd and fourth generation, that they probably wont know any chinese even they look chinese. its not like I can send my kids to school in china while I work here.

[yialanliu]

Twinkie was the phrase at my school haha. And man was I proud of it at the time haha. Good times