Pregnant teen shocks netizens with pics of her bulging belly

Getting married and having kids is a big deal in China, and while women are often pressured into getting married and having kids soon after settling into a job, what if you have kids, er, a little earlier?

A girl in Henan has set the Chinese internet ablaze with pictures of a very pregnant looking belly. Teenage pregnancy might not be such a big deal in other places, but in China the idea of a pregnant teenager raises a very serious question: is it legal?
If the pictures are indeed real, according to the girls social media profile she was born in 2000, and the father was born in 1999. They are both from Xuchang, Henan province, NetEase reports.

With netizens analyzing the girl’s pictures, posts and information with a steely eye, a few conclusions have been made:
a) The baby is apparently a boy, which raises a few eyebrows as Chinese hospitals are not allowed to tell the parents the gender of the child before it is born, so if the child is indeed a boy and the parents know it, they must have resorted to an illegal way to find out.
b) “The name Li Yunxi is an indicator of the educational level of the couple… they watch too many Korean shows.” It turns out that “Yunxi” is a common name for characters in addictive Korean dramas.
c) Even though a 16-year-old giving birth isn’t akin to something illegal as rape, any wedding between the couple at this stage wouldn’t be considered legal or protected by the law as they are still too young by five years. The marriageable age in China is 22 for men and 20 for women. Are they sure they’ll make it through five years without any problems?

On Weibo, netizens find the situation far more serious than just a case of simple puppy love, commenting that child marriages are as bad for women as forced ones, and that the pictures are no laughing matter.

Still, some have managed to make jokes about the whole thing:
“Don’t worry guys, if you can’t get a hot girl you can at least get her daughter,” one netizen commented on NetEase.
“This girl doesn’t look so bad… real talk: strike first and gain the upper hand,” another added.
“Shouldn’t these kids be doing their homework?” another wondered.
But others have been less then happy with the story:
“Doing this kind of thing, family planning needs to be implemented, these fucking idiots, damn animals,” one netizen wrote.
Oof. While we’ve yet to hear any follow up on the authenticity of the photos we’re all sure of one thing — kids sure seem to grow up fast these days, heck some of them are even getting married .
By Kitty Lai
[Images via NetEase]